


Trouble with Timelines

by roeskva



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Action/Adventure, Advent Calendar, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama, Gen, Tok'ra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-02
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-06 02:06:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 32,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8730547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roeskva/pseuds/roeskva
Summary: Daniel accidentally activates a Furling device, which changes the timeline. Will SG-1 be able to fix it? Written as Christmas calendar, in 24 short chapters.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Takes places around April 2002

"What does the text say?" Sam asked, looking with interest at the silvery cube Daniel was turning over and over in his hands.

"I don't know. It a different variant of Furling than the one we found on PB2-908. Ernest's Planet, you know." He slid his thumb over the red crystal set into one of the sides, and the letters on the sides glowed again.

"Let me take a look. Selmak knows a little bit of Furling," Jacob said, reaching for the cube.

Daniel shrugged and handed it to him. "Sure."

Jacob took it and gave control to Selmak, who studied it carefully.

"Did you notice that?" Sam pointed. "The edges glow when you push your hand hard against the crystal for a longer time."

"Yes. Interesting." Selmak pressed her hand against the crystal and held it there, and the edges slowly lighted up until they glowed dully.

"There was nothing else in the chamber where we found the cube," Sam said. "Nothing to explain what it might be. Too bad, really."

"No, but we haven't searched all the corridors. Not even close," Daniel reminded her.

O'Neill came running into the cave-like room, stopping just inside the door. "Time to leave, guys!"

"But Jack - we found only one artefact and if we could just-" Daniel began.

"No buts! A group of Jaffa came through the Stargate and they'll be here soon!"

"Jaffa? What sect are they?" Selmak asked.

"Eh, Olokun, according to Teal'c," O'Neill said. "Who cares!" He activated the radio and spoke into it, "Teal'c! We're on the way!"

" _Understood, O'Neill. The Jaffa have not seen me. They are clearly searching for something, though."_

"That's what I feared. O'Neill out." He turned to the others. "All right. Move it!"

Sam picked up her backpack, then hurried after Daniel, Jacob|Selmak, and O'Neill - all running back along the dark winding corridors they had walked through earlier that day. They had come there looking for a secret laboratory, rumoured to contain powerful technology, perhaps even weapons.

They had only had time to study a small part of the underground complex they had discovered, and the silvery cube was the only piece of technology they had found. Now the whole place might fall into the hands of a Goa'uld.

Of course, that could easily be their own fate as well, unless they made it safely back to the Stargate.

Finally they reached the exit of the tunnel complex and met Teal'c who was standing near the almost-hidden entrance set into the rock face.

"Anything new, T?" O'Neill asked in a low voice.

"There is not. We have not been discovered. None of the Jaffa have returned, but I do not know if any guards remain at the Stargate."

"Okay, I guess we'll know soon enough. Move out, people."

"Jack, we can't just _leave_ all of this for the Goa'uld to take!" Daniel complained.

"Did you find anything except for that weird cube?" O'Neill asked.

"No, but I'm sure there is a lot more if we just..."

O'Neill shook his head. "No, Daniel. There's no time for that."

"But they may not find this place! I mean, _we_ barely found it and we had a map!"

"Then it'll still be here when it's safe to return. Now _move_!" O'Neill repeated.

Daniel looked less than happy, but followed along and did not complain further.

* * *

They moved as quietly as possible through the light forest, keeping an eye out for the Jaffa. When they reached the clearing, with the Stargate located in the middle, they stopped and looked around carefully.

All seemed peaceful. Trees encircled the clearing on all sides, with a fairly overgrown path leading across the clearing and into the forest - the way they had come when they arrived. The sun was almost down, and the shadows were getting longer, throwing the clearing into twilight.

"The only protection is that group of rocks and low bushes." Jacob pointed. "We'll be vulnerable as soon as we move out from the treeline."

"Right. We'll just have to hope none of the Jaffa are nearby," O'Neill said, looking grim.

"Any idea what they are doing here?" Daniel wondered.

"Probably just coincidence. Bad luck," Jacob suggested.

"Since the map we used to find the Furling lab was found on one of Olokun's planets, it's not too far a stretch to assume he's heard about it too, is it?" Sam said.

"Or it's a trap. Maybe the snakehead knew about the map, but hadn't been able to find the entrance and decided to see if we had better luck. Have you thought of that?" O'Neill said.

Jacob considered it, listening to Selmak. "Olokun isn't known for his subtleties, but I agree, both options are possible."

"Well, we can consider it later. Let's get out of here before the Jaffa return!" O'Neill ordered.

They had only just stepped out into the clearing when they heard someone shouting angrily at them.

"A group of Jaffa. To our right!" Jacob warned.

"Crap!" O'Neill exclaimed. "Watch out!"

They all ran for the only cover, and made it to the relative safety just as staff blasts began zipping past them.

"Five Jaffa," Teal'c told them, checking. He quickly lowered his head as a shot flew by much too close for comfort, the plasma discharge burning away about half of one of the bushes they were hiding behind.

They all immediately withdrew behind the low pile of rocks, making sure all parts of their bodies were hidden from the enemy.

"Damn! Why do we _always_ end up in these situations?" O'Neill grumbled. "Carter, you take the left. Teal'c - cover fire!"

"Yes, O'Neill." Teal'c swung his staff weapon around and shot over the top of the rocks in the general direction of the attacking Jaffa.

Sam and O'Neill leaned out from each their side of the rocks, taking care to show as little of themselves as possible. They fired quickly at the Jaffa who were occupied by the shots from Teal'c, before rolling back to safety.

"I got one," Sam said.

"Me too," O'Neill said.

"That's three left," Daniel observed, just as Teal'c rose to his knees and sent off a volley of plasma discharges from his staff weapon before ducking back down.

"One."

"So, two left," Daniel said.

"No, _one_ left,." Teal'c told him, a pleased expression on his face.

They heard a zat'nik'tel discharge close by and turned to see Jacob kneeling behind them, his zat'nik'tel in hand. "Now there are none left."

The last Jaffa was lying only maybe 10 feet away to the side, having attempted to sneak up on them.

"Great. Good work, everyone!" O'Neill grinned, relieved. "Now let's get the _Hell_ out of here! Daniel, dial Earth!"

Daniel ran to the DHD and began dialing. However, just as the wormhole connected, another group of Jaffa appeared among the trees.

"Jaffa!" Teal'c called out.

Daniel tried to cover behind the DHD as he sent the signal from his GDO. "Just a moment, guys!"

"Hurry up!" O'Neill shouted as a shot zinged the ground before him.

"All right, got it!" Daniel exclaimed as he got the 'all clear' from Stargate Command.

They ran for the open 'gate, firing at the approaching Jaffa, who fired back at them.

Jacob cried out as a staff blast hit his shoulder, but with Sam's help he continued running.

Daniel grabbed the silvery Furling cube and hurried towards the open wormhole, reaching it just before the others. Just as he was about to jump through, a discharge from one of the staff weapons hit the cube.

"Augh!" Daniel cried out, dropping the cube.

"Leave it!" O'Neill shouted. "Come on!"

Not willing to give up on the one artefact they had found, Daniel grabbed the device - and almost let go of it again. He made a surprised cry at the weird twang he felt, as if from static electricity, but he held onto it, accidentally pressing hard on the red crystal. Almost immediately the corners of the cube began to glow brilliantly and it let out a great flash, which illuminated the entire area. Daniel stumbled and nearly fell, but clutched the device to him as he fell through the wormhole.

The others followed moments later, jumping and running through the Stargate.

* * *

"Quickly! Close the iris!" Sam called out when she appeared on the other side. Dumbfounded by what she saw, she stopped and just stared.

"What the Hell?" Jacob exclaimed, as the wormhole closed behind them.

"Did you not dial Earth, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c wondered.

"This isn't Stargate Command," Daniel observed, unnecessarily.

"No shit!" O'Neill snorted. He shook his head. "Oh, God. _This_ takes me back!"


	2. Chapter 2

"Did you mis-dial, Daniel?" Jacob asked. "We need to dial another planet, and quickly!"

"Yeah, yeah," Daniel mumbled. "I mean, I don't think I did. Where is the DHD?"

Sam groaned. "If we are where I _think_ we are, then it's buried. Under a _whole_ lot of snow and ice!"

"Didn't they move it, Carter? I mean, I _know_ they moved it!" O'Neill said. "How could we have ended up here again? If here is where I think it is."

Sam went over to a large chunk of snow and ice and started brushing the snow aside.

"What the Hell are you doing, Sam?" Jacob said, testily. He grimaced as he moved his arm.

Sam was looking at him and got a horrified expression. "Oh, my God, dad! You were shot! How are you?" She hurried to his side.

"Selmak is taking care of me, don't worry about that. What I _do_ want is an explanation - and now!"

"This," Sam hesitated. " _Looks_ like the cave on Antarctica that Colonel O'Neill and myself ended up in... about four years ago. When the Stargate was hit by weapon's fire which made the wormhole jump to the second gate - the one on Antarctica."

"Right, you mentioned that. The Tok'ra actually have some experience with that too. Anyway, you think that has happened again?" Jacob wondered.

"No - for one thing, the Stargate on Antarctica was moved from the cave shortly after we found it, so it can't be that one." She looked uncertain.

"Yet another one, maybe?" Daniel suggested.

Sam shook her head. "It's unlikely there's one _more_ on Earth. No, something is strange."

"You can say _that_ again!" O'Neill grumbled. "Let's find that DHD." He looked to Jacob. "You're sure you're okay sir?"

Jacob nodded curtly. "Yes." He sighed. "At least it doesn't look like the Jaffa saw the address - they haven't followed us through."

"There's that," O'Neill said. "Now we just get to _freeze_ to death!"

"What about our radios? Shouldn't they be able to hear us at McMurdoch?" Daniel wondered.

"With these?" Sam waved her radio and snorted. "They reach 10 miles or so, maybe a little more if the conditions are good. It's not enough, not by far - and we're deep underground too."

"So we dig out the DHD." Daniel nodded tiredly.

"There's maybe another option. Selmak reminds me that the Jaffa sometimes used this Stargate when they came to Earth for slaves. It wasn't something that happened often, but they did do it now and then," Jacob said.

"Yeah? So? We already knew they came for slaves," O'Neill said, shivering a little from the cold. "What's your point?"

"My point is that they had to have had some sort of transportation! They couldn't very well _walk_ all the way to where they took the slaves from!"

"Right!" Sam exclaimed. "Of course!"

"They would have had to have a teltac or some other vessel," Teal'c suggested.

"Or a boat," O'Neill observed.

"I think a teltac makes more sense," Jacob said. "Problem is, we have no idea where it is, and with the Stargate so close, I can't sense the much smaller amount of naquadah in the vessel."

"Which means it could be anywhere and we have no way to know where - and no way to dig it out from inside a gigantic block of ice. We go with the DHD, then," O'Neill decided. "But first, let's do a status - what do we have? Weapons, blankets?"

"I have my staff weapon, my zat'nik'tel, and a knife," Teal'c told them.

"I've got a zat'nik'tel too," Jacob said. "And a knife."

"Um, my gun?" Daniel said. "With one extra magazine for it."

"Carter?"

"My P90, 2 extra mags, my zat, one knife, and - just a moment," Sam told them, going through her backpack. "Three thermal foil blankets, a normal blanket, a field stove, a small cooking pot, a few cups, five bags of dry instant soup, powdered coffee, and eleven protein bars."

"Not too bad. Anyone else got any food?" O'Neill asked.

"I've got a couple protein bars," Daniel said.

Jacob checked his pockets. "I have the Tok'ra equivalent of MREs - four of them. They're not the most tasty, but they'll do."

"I've got three protein bars," O'Neill said. "So we should be able to survive for some days, at least. Okay."

"Those who doesn't work on digging out the DHD better wrap up in the foil blankets," Sam said, handing one to her father.

She, O'Neill, and Teal'c began working, while Jacob wrapped up and sat down to allow Selmak some peace and quiet to heal his staff blast wound in the shoulder. Daniel sat down as well, studying the artefact they had managed to save - taking care not to push too hard against the crystal in its side.

* * *

"Any idea _why_ we ended up here?" O'Neill asked, when they took a brief break. "I mean, we've agreed that we're on Earth, on Antarctica - and that the gate is the same as the one we came through four years ago, right?"

Jacob poured some coffee in the cups, while silently apologizing to Selmak for the lack of other choices of beverage. He handed a cup to Sam.

"Thanks." She warmed her hands on the cup. "Well, I have been thinking about it. Obviously, since we ended up here, either something made the wormhole jump, or the other Stargate wasn't working."

"Obviously," O'Neill said. "That doesn't explain why the gate is here in the first place."

"No, and I... don't think you'll like what I'm thinking about that." She gave him an unhappy look.

"Oh, trust me, I already don't like it." O'Neill looked towards Daniel. "The damn box did something, didn't it?"

Sam nodded. "That is the most likely explanation, yes."

"Timetravel? Parallel universe?" he wondered.

She shook her head. "There's no way to know until we get a chance to contact Stargate Command. Or try to do so at any rate."

"Wonderful!" O'Neill grumbled. "And of course it had to be the day where the Simpsons is on."

* * *

Teal'c's staff weapon had proven an advantage when it came to remove ice from the DHD, but it was still many cold hours later when they had finally dug it out enough that they could try and activate it.

"All right, where do we go?" Sam asked, brushing aside the last ice.

"Anywhere but here! Just as long as it's warm," O'Neill said.

"Agreed," Daniel said, his teeth clattering.

"Let me enter the coordinates," Jacob said. "The Tok'ra have a teltac hidden on Sularos. It's not too far from Earth. We should be able to travel back here in maybe three days from there."

"Sounds great!" O'Neill smiled. "Please, dial it up! Ah, no Jaffa there, I presume?" he added.

Jacob shook his head. "No, it's been abandoned by the Goa'uld for centuries."

"Let's hope it's there, then. The teltac, I mean," Sam said. "Since we don't really know what has happened."

"Doesn't that also mean we can't know if it's really abandoned?" Daniel asked. "Maybe it's the headquarters of some Goa'uld now."

"Don't jinx it, Daniel!" O'Neill warned.

"Sorry." He looked sheepish. He turned to pick up the Furling device.

"And don't bring that thing!"

"Sir, I think he should. What if it _did_ send us back in time. Or to a different universe - or even changed the timeline. We need it to undo that," Sam said, then added in a low voice. "If we can."

O'Neill made an unhappy sound, but just motioned at Jacob to begin dialling.


	3. Chapter 3

"It _was_ supposed to be here," Jacob said. He took a deep breath. "Well, I guess it could just have been picked up by another Tok'ra. We don't have too good communication between the various bases and outposts right now."

Sam nodded, thinking with sadness at the attack on Revanna and all the Tok'ra who had been killed then, including Lantash. "I know."

"Then again, this could just as well mean that blasted cube-thingie screwed up the entire universe," O'Neill said. "Is there any other ship we can get to without too much trouble?"

"Well, we can probably steal a ship from one of the Goa'uld, but it might take a little while," Jacob said.

"I said 'without too much trouble'!" O'Neill repeated. "Teal'c?"

"I do not believe I know anyone who currently has access to a teltac."

"Terrific. Which Goa'uld would be easiest to steal from?"

"Wait - I know where we can find a ship. One that _should_ be there, even if we've travelled ah, a few years into past, at least," Sam said. "Jolinar hid the ship she used when she escaped from Cronus's court. Back when the ashrak was after her."

"Okay, if you know where that is, then take us there," O'Neill ordered.

* * *

"All right, there it is." Sam pointed, relieved.

"Awesome!" O'Neill smiled widely, then frowned. "That thing looks pretty beat up. Are you sure it will fly?"

"It will fly. Jolinar just left it here in order not to lead the Ashrak back to the Tok'ra," Sam explained.

"Finding the ship, that also means we haven't travelled further back than five-six years, right?" Daniel asked, hopeful.

"Yes. _If_ we travelled in time at all, but I guess we'll know soon enough," Sam said.

They removed the leaves and other material that Jolinar had used to conceal the teltac, then entered the craft. To everyone's relief, it took off without problems and they set a course for Earth.

* * *

"This vessel is equipped with a cloak, but I believe it will still be detectable when flying through the atmosphere," Teal'c observed. "it is fortunate we are arriving during nighttime."

"Very much. We should probably still contact Stargate Command," O'Neill said. He looked with some concern at the planet which was rapidly closing. "We don't want to risk them thinking we're hostiles."

"Understood." Teal'c inclined his head in agreement, then sent the encoded standard greeting that would notify Stargate Command that those arriving were friendly - or at least that they had the code. In any case, it should stop anyone from firing at them outright.

"Three long days cooped up in this thing - I _so_ look forward to fresh air again," O'Neill said.

"At least Selmak has had time to heal you, dad," Sam said, smiling at Jacob.

Jacob nodded. "I was healed days ago."

Meanwhile, Teal'c had been trying to contact Stargate Command. He now turned to O'Neill. "There is no response."

O'Neill frowned. "That's odd." He considered for a moment. "Take us in for a landing in the forest just behind Cheyenne Mountain."

They flew the last bit of the way filled with a sense of dread. It was clear that _something_ was not as it should be.

* * *

"There is no Stargate in Cheyenne Mountain," Jacob told them when they had just stepped out of the teltac. "I don't sense it, and I'm more than close enough that I should."

"It just confirms everything else we have noticed - and explains why we ended up on Antarctica," Sam said. "The Furling device is the most likely cause."

"You're thinking time travel?" O'Neill asked.

Sam considered it, then slowly shook her head. "No, or at least it's not _only_ time travel. Jolinar left that ship back there around April 1997. That's _after_ the Stargate was placed under Cheyenne Mountain."

O'Neill nodded. "That's true. Well, that's something. I _hate_ time travel. What then? Parallel universes?"

"Maybe the cube works like the Quantum Mirror?" Daniel suggested.

"It's possible, but I think it's more likely it actually changes the timeline," Jacob said. "Can I see the cube again? Selmak thinks she may have figured some of the text out."

"Sure." Daniel handed it to him.

"Just make sure you don't set that damn thing off!" O'Neill warned.

"Relax, as long as you don't press the crystal hard it doesn't activate - except for lighting up the letters," Jacob said.

"I wonder why the corners didn't glow as brightly back when we found it," Daniel mused. "Perhaps we didn't push it hard enough?"

"Possibly, but I think the reason is something else. I suspect it was charged by the staff blast," Jacob said.

Sam nodded. "That makes sense. So, what is it you think you found out?"

Daniel leaned closer as well, very interested.

"Notice this-" Jacob pointed. "This here looks very much like the word for 'change' in standard Furling." He pointed again. "And here, Selmak thinks it says 'your experiences'."

"Yes! That's right! Only it's not quite 'experiences'." Daniel exclaimed. " _Now_ I see what they mean! Look, _there_ , it says 'adjust the tips to change your past, present, and future'."

Jacob nodded tiredly. "The _timeline_. It changes the timeline."

O'Neill groaned. "That's just typical! Why do things like that always happen to SG-1? _Please_ tell me you can at least change it back!"

"Well, theoretically it should be possible... as long as we can figure out _how_." Daniel stared miserably at the cube.

"We'll figure it out," Sam said hopefully. "Might take a little while, but we can do it."

"That's the spirit!" O'Neill said. "Let's make sure the teltac is well hidden, then walk to Colorado Springs. No reason not to make sure we didn't time travel as well."

"April 15th, 2002," Daniel said, looking at a newspaper in a newspaper vending machine.

"At least the time is the same," Jacob said.

Daniel nodded. "That's good. It means we can focus on just changing the timeline back."

"Yes, we 'just' have to fix the timeline. Nothing to it!" O'Neill snorted sarcastically.

"We should probably try to find out how much has changed out in the Galaxy - as a consequence of us not being out there, I mean," Sam said.

"Plenty of snakeheads are still alive, that's one difference for sure!" O'Neill said. "But I'll admit everything here looks deceptively peaceful and similar to what we're used to."

"Do not be deceived by this. It is only a matter of time before the Goa'uld decide to attack this world," Teal'c said.

"Ra is still alive," Daniel reminded them. "Maybe the Goa'uld will leave Earth alone."

Jacob nodded. "Possibly, but there is no way to know. Not if Anubis really is out there, gathering strength. He is even more ambitious than most, and certainly more evil. If he becomes strong enough to attack the System Lords or maybe even threaten Ra, then many more troops will be needed. The only place which has that many potential fighters is Earth."

"But that's humans, not Jaffa," Sam pointed out. "And humans from Earth won't fear and obey Ra for being a god."

"Humans will do if that is what he can get, and there are ways to make them obey. Besides, there is also ways of turning them into Jaffa."

"That's right," Sam agreed. "Like what Hathor did to Colonel O'Neill."

"Yeah, let's not talk about that," O'Neill said, shuddering.

"Sorry." Sam sent him a sheepish look.

"Okay, so we definitely want to fix the timeline - as if we didn't want that before. However, first order of business should be to find something to eat, and maybe some different clothes. Any ideas how we get that?" O'Neill said.


	4. Chapter 4

"Did I mention I think this is a bad idea?" Daniel said. "We'll just get caught, and then we'll _never_ have a chance of fixing the timeline."

"Yes you did, _twice_ , and we'll _not_ get caught!" O'Neill said, irritated. "Now shut up or you'll give away our position!"

Daniel grumbled something too low to hear, but did not argue further.

"Someone is approaching the ATM," Jacob warned, keeping his voice down.

"It's three o'clock in the morning! What are people doing out this late?" O'Neill whispered, exasperated.

They waited behind the fence for another five minutes, then the street was empty. O'Neill nodded at Teal'c, who immediately fired his zat'nik'tel at the camera by the ATM, destroying it.

"All right, all is clear - hurry up and come back here!" O'Neill ordered.

Sam, Teal'c, and Jacob|Selmak ran to the ATM. Teal'c shot it with his zat'nik'tel, and the blue energy played over the screen and control panel for a moment, then the machine suddenly started dispensing money.

"Whoa!" Sam exclaimed. "And here I thought we'd have to break it open!"

"I'll take a bit of good luck!" Jacob grinned.

They quickly grabbed the money and stuffed as much as possible into their pockets as quickly as possible.

"Someone's coming!" O'Neill called to them after a while.

Teal'c grabbed another handful of banknotes, then hurried towards their hiding place together with Sam and Jacob|Selmak just as a man turned the corner into the street.

"Hey, what are you doing!" the newcomer shouted.

"Crap! Let's get out of here!" O'Neill exclaimed.

Teal'c turned and calmly fired his zat'nik'tel, stunning the man.

"Do you think he will be able to recognize us?" Sam wondered, worriedly.

Jacob sighed and pulled a hand device out of his pocket. "I will take care of that."

"Right, you found it on the teltac," Sam said.

"Wait! What are you going to do, Jacob?" O'Neill asked, concerned.

"I won't kill him if that's what you're afraid of," Jacob said grimly. He dipped his head, giving Selmak control.

She continued putting on the hand device. "The kara'kesh - hand device - can just like the hara'kesh be used to confuse a person or make him or her forget recent events."

"Nice - and more than a little creepy. Okay, go take care of him. Quickly."

* * *

Next day they had gotten clean clothing and something to eat, and were feeling somewhat better, despite the situation.

Realizing they needed to try and determine when things had changed, they were currently sitting in the nearest library, looking through recent history books.

"The President is different, and it looks like a few other countries have different leaders too," Daniel told them. He pulled another thick book over. "From what I have been able to tell, there are a number of minor differences here and there, but nothing major. My guess is that the only actual change was that they never found the Stargate - everything else that has changed must somehow have followed from that."

"You're sure they didn't find the Stargate? Maybe they just didn't start a program to study it," Jacob said, after first looking around to make sure no one was within earshot.

Daniel nodded. "I'm sure." He patted a book. "This contains all the issues of 'Journal of Egyptian Archaeology' from 1925-1935." He slid his hand over two other, even thicker books. "And these ones have all the issues of 'American Journal of Archaeology', volumes 30-35 and volumes 36-40. Covering the years 1926 to 1936. There are _no_ articles about the find in Giza in 1928. I mean, there was never much, but it _was_ mentioned, and a number of speculative theories were made."

"All right, so let's assume they just never found the Stargate. Okay," O'Neill said. "That gives us something to work with, right? Will you guys be able to adjust the Furling device to undo the changes now?"

"Ah..." Daniel said, hesitantly, looking to first Sam and then Jacob.

"We don't know how an adjustment is made, or even how you read the 'setting'," Sam pointed out. "Or what it should say."

"We need time to study it," Jacob concluded. "Then - _maybe_."

* * *

"All right, so touching the red crystal and one of the corners of the cube at the same time makes the text below the corner change," Sam said.

They had returned to the teltac, carrying food for several days. Sam, Daniel, and Jacob|Selmak were now studying the Furling cube while Teal'c and O'Neill kept guard.

"You've found out how to set the device?" O'Neill asked, hopefully, strolling into the back of the teltac where the others were working.

Sam shook her head. "Not quite. We learned where and how to change the settings. Which is progress, I guess."

"You mean you learned where the buttons are on the thing!" O'Neill said, realizing.

"Exactly." Sam gave him a wry grin.

He nodded. "Right. Call me if there's any _actual_ progress." He went back to the flight deck were Teal'c was keeping an eye on the screen. The ship had both cloak and sensors which meant that they were quite safe and could keep guard from inside the teltac. "Anything going on?"

"There is not," Teal'c said.

O'Neill groaned softly. "I may quite possibly get bored out of my skull. For _real_!"

Teal'c smiled a little. "That is doubtful."

Sending Teal'c a dirty look, O'Neill let himself slide down against the wall and leaned his head back. This was going to be a long mission.

* * *

"What? What's going on?" O'Neill had fallen asleep and now jumped up when Daniel spoke to him.

"I said, I _think_ I've translated the rest of the text. _Most_ of it at least."

"Does that mean we can clear this mess up?" O'Neill asked, his expression a mixture of hope and disbelief.

"Well, while I know what the text says, there is still some confusion as to how to understand the settings. And, well, we also don't know what they're supposed to be _set_ to in order to fix the timeline," Daniel admitted.

"Isn't there a reset button on the thing?"

"How could there be?" Sam said, joining them together with Jacob|Selmak.

"Sam is right. As far as we know, there is nothing to differentiate one timeline from another. The changed one is as valid as the one we think of as 'real'," Jacob said.

"So that's it? We can't fix this? I don't accept that," O'Neill exclaimed.

"No, we do believe we can fix it - or at least to a degree where we can't tell the difference," Jacob assured him.

"It may just take a few... well, _trials_ ," Sam told him, aware he would not like that.

" _Trials_! Oy!" O'Neill sighed deeply. "Why don't I like the sound of _that_!"


	5. Chapter 5

"You're sure there's no way to know?" O'Neill asked.

"Sorry," Sam said.

"But it won't be _more_ different at least, will it?" he asked, hopeful.

She looked apologetic. "I can't promise that."

"I, ah, changed the setting a bit randomly at first, before we knew what was going on, and I don't actually remember what they were set to in the first place," Daniel admitted.

"Wonderful. So what do we do now?" O'Neill asked.

"How can we be certain we will all remember the original timeline?" Teal'c asked. "Will we not change as well?"

"Good question, but my guess is that everything within the radius of the flash will be transported along, unchanged," Sam said, hoping it was true. "At least it seemed that way the first time."

"All right, then get close together, people," O'Neill ordered.

They were standing just outside the teltac, in the small open space where it had landed. They were all gathered together, as near to each other as they could. If Sam was right, the teltac should be included as well, but they did not dare be inside any structure unless they had to. Not when they did not know how the device worked.

"I think we're ready," Sam said, tinkering with the device a moment more.

O'Neill closed his eyes and held his hands over his ears. "Okay. Fire it up, Carter."

* * *

"Well, it doesn't look any different here, at least," Daniel observed, clearly relieved.

"What did you expect? That the sky was green and the trees purple?" O'Neill asked, sarcastically.

"No, but the trees could have been fewer, or-" Daniel began. "It's _winter_?" He looked around.

The others did as well, noticing the trees were covered with a fine, white layer.

"It's ash," Sam said. "Not snow."

"Look at the sky!" Teal'c told them.

They turned to look in the same direction as him. The dark evening sky was a deep orange red.

"Colorado Springs! It's burning!" O'Neill exclaimed.

Just as they looked up, several death gliders streaked across the sky over their heads, in the direction of Colorado Springs. Moments later they heard the explosions.

"I think you can adjust the device again - we're not staying here, that's for sure!" O'Neill said.

"It's _cold_!" Daniel complained. "And the snow is deep!" He looked down at his legs, realizing he had sunk down to above his knees.

Sam nodded. "I agree. This time it _is_ winter. Very strange." She frowned at the sky.

"Why? If everything else can be different, then so can the weather, can't it?" Daniel asked.

"Sure, but everything else around here looks the same. Granted, we're in the middle of a forest, but I'd still have expected there to be other changes if the weather is different." She shrugged.

"I've rarely seen _this_ much snow around here," O'Neill observed. "I tend to think this is a bad sign. Well, we should see if it's possible to walk to the city. The snow isn't as deep over here, so I think we can do it without too much problems."

"The Stargate is here this time. I can feel it," Jacob told them.

They bundled up as well as they could and started walking towards the city. The snow had started falling when they set out, and it did not take long before the air was filled with snowflakes. The wind was picking up as well, and it was pretty cold.

They had not come far before they realized the weather was just too bad, and the snow too deep in many places. They turned around and returned to the teltac.

"It's become a regular blizzard out there!" O'Neill said, when the door to the teltac had closed behind them. "I suggest we wait it out."

"You'll get no argument from me," Jacob said, taking off his jacket and shaking it clean of snow.

"We'd have died from the cold if we had continued for much longer," Daniel said, shivering.

"The teltac is able to receive radio, so why don't we listen to that until we can get to Colorado Springs. It should give us some idea if this place is the same or not," Sam suggested.

"That is an excellent idea, Major Carter." Teal'c sat down and calibrated the receiver for radio signals, beginning at the lower bands and slowly working his way up.

"Wait - there was something there!" Sam said, when Teal'c had gone through the entire spectrum that was used for radio communication and had started going backwards again.

Teal'c nodded and carefully tuned the receiver and sure enough, a crackling signal could soon be heard.

"Can you clear that up?" O'Neill asked.

"I do not believe so," Teal'c told him after a few moments.

Jacob dipped his head, and Selmak took control.

"Let me try. I have many more years of experience in this than any of you have."

Teal'c got up and she sat down and began to do her best to clear up the signal.

"What could be causing the interference?" Daniel wondered.

"Well, it could be the weather, I guess. The mountains, or the trees... it's just weird the interference of the signals is so complete in all the frequencies - well, almost all the frequencies," Sam said.

"I believe I can clear up the signal somewhat, but it is fairly weak, so there is a limit to what I can do," Selmak said.

She tweaked it for another few moments, then suddenly the signal became almost clear and they could hear what was being said. " _I repeat, I'm at Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado Springs. Anyone out there-_ " the message was interrupted by a loud crackle, then returned, " _can come here. We have-_ " Another crackle was heard, for much longer this time.

"It's Siler!" O'Neill realized. "Get him back!"

Selmak worked the controls, and the voice returned. " _If you have any-_ " followed by something unintelligible. " _We will be listening for-_ "

That was the last clear part of the message they got, the rest was noise.

"Push the send button, Teal'c!" O'Neill leaned forward and spoke, as soon as Teal'c had nodded that he had done as he was asked. "This is Colonel Jack O'Neill of the US Air Force. Do you read me, Siler?"

There was a long silence, then a crackle from the radio.

"There's no way to tell if he heard you or not," Jacob said.

"I know." O'Neill sighed. "I wonder what's happened" He shook his head. "We need to get there as soon as possible and see if they're okay."

"No offence, sir, but why? This is obviously not our timeline. We should just change the settings on the cube and reactivate it," Sam said.

"How do you it isn't? We've been gone for more than four days. Maybe Earth has been attacked. Or hit by some sort of natural disaster!" O'Neill exclaimed. "We need to at least make sure!"

Sam nodded. "You're right, sir. I don't think this is our timeline, but I agree. We need to make sure - and it probably wouldn't hurt learning _how_ different it is here. It might help us calibrate the Furling device."


	6. Chapter 6

The snow had kept falling the whole night and into the morning, but when noon was approaching it finally stopped.

Jacob opened the door - only to realize the layer of snow was so deep the teltac was sitting in it to half-way up the side. "That's a _lot_ of snow!"

Sam poked her head out as well, and looked at the soft white blanket that covered everything. She then gazed up at the teal-grey sky. "Yeah, and it looks like we'll get a lot more snow."

"Right, there's no way we can walk to Colorado Springs from here. It's almost 20 klicks," Jacob agreed.

"Then we'll fly," O'Neill decided.

"Jack, do you really think-" Daniel began.

"It's got cloak, and somehow I suspect they've got bigger things to worry about than us arriving in a teltac," O'Neill said.

* * *

Jacob put the teltac down on the parking lot near the main entrance to the Cheyenne Mountain Complex.

"Did you see? Everything is completely covered by snow, to the point where you can barely make out anything of Colorado Springs!" Daniel said.

"Yes, it's very unusual at this latitude. We're in April! I'm also worried by the fact that there's no smoke coming from anywhere - surely someone is using their fireplace in a situation like this," Sam added.

"Not to mention the factories," Daniel said.

"Move. We'll know soon enough what has happened," O'Neill told them.

They stepped out of the cargo ship and looked back at the cloaked vessel.

"Yeah, people can't miss the weird hole in the snow just there - cloak or not," Jacob said sardonically.

Sam held out her hand, catching a few snowflakes. "Well, it may get covered soon enough, and then it's just another big pile of snow."

"Have you noticed how clean the air is?" Daniel said. "It's _never_ this clean."

"Daniel Jackson is correct. The air on your world is usually polluted," Teal'c agreed.

"It's probably just because of the weather," O'Neill said, not liking what Daniel was implying.

They walked through the snow, noticing that there were no cars - or rather, that the cars that were there were covered by thick mountains of snow. There were also no tracks from anyone walking, anywhere.

The snow was so deep it took them much longer than normal to get to the entrance, and by then it was again snowing hard. They had seen or heard no one.

They had just stepped into the tunnel leading into the mountain, when a guard called out to them.

"Stop! Identify yourself!" the guard insisted, pointing at them with his MP5.

"I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill, US Air Force," O'Neill said, feeling relieved by the presence of a guard. "I don't have my ID, but there's at least one man inside who knows who I am. Call Siler."

The guard hesitated, eyeing all of them suspiciously, then nodded. "All right."

* * *

"Colonel O'Neill!" Siler shook his head when he saw him. "And Major Carter, Doctor Jackson, and Teal'c." He looked at Jacob for a few moments. "General Carter, right?"

"That's right," Jacob said.

"Colonel O'Neill, we thought you and your team were dead. I mean, I don't understand _how_ you can have survived."

"It's... a long story," O'Neill said, confused. "Listen, it's cold out here, and we're freezing our asses off. Do you think we could go inside?"

Siler looked bashful. "Of course. Sorry, sir."

They followed Siler into the facility, and then down into the mountain on the elevator. All of them had too much on their minds to talk, and they rode most of the way in silence, with Siler sending them weird looks now and then.

"Is General Hammond here?" O'Neill asked when they had gotten off on the 27th floor.

"No, last we heard from him he were going to Washington to report. We never got confirmation that he arrived, but communication is mostly down everywhere," Siler said.

O'Neill nodded slowly "Who's in charge?"

"Colonel Reynolds. I'll take you to him now."

"Reynolds?" O'Neill sounded surprised. "How many people do you have here?"

"34 - 5 of those civilians," Siler said. "Sir. How _did_ you survive?"

"Ah, why do you think we were killed?" Daniel asked.

Siler looked at him, clearly confused. "The asteroid blew up - with you on it. At least, that's what we thought."

"We, um, we got away at the last moment," O'Neill told him. "Reynolds." He nodded at the man walking towards them.

"Colonel O'Neill." He shook his head. "I couldn't believe my own ears when they told me you were alive!"

"Yeah, I get that a lot. Listen, could we go somewhere to talk? Privately."

Reynolds looked clearly confused, but nodded. "Sure, in my office."

* * *

"I don't understand. You say you're from another universe?" Reynolds asked.

"Another _timeline_ ," Sam corrected.

"Okay." Reynolds nodded. "I guess that explains why you're alive."

"Yeah, about that. What happened here?" O'Neill asked.

"Well the short story is, there was an asteroid, on course directly for Earth. A decision was made to try and deflect it with a nuke. SG-1 volunteered for the job."

"Same thing happened in _our_ timeline. About three weeks ago," Sam said. "We found out it was a Goa'uld plot. The asteroid was made up partially by naquadah - forty-five percent of the mass."

"Really? That probably explains what happened." Reynolds was quiet for a little while. "Everything went well with the mission here, up until the explosion."

"We didn't crash on the asteroid?"

"You came down on it pretty hard, but we got a signal back that you were fine and that you had set the bomb. Then we heard nothing until there was a giant explosion. We figured something had gone wrong, because it was much more violent than it should have been. We don't know exactly what happened, because we lost all communication with the satellites, but we do know that part of the Moon is gone. Vaporized, it almost looks like."

"Oh, my God!" Sam exclaimed. "That must have been because of the naquadah. If we - that is the other we - realized the asteroid was made partially of naquadah we must have tried to stop the explosion, or at least avoid it hitting Earth. If we couldn't stop the bomb like we did..."

"But blowing up part of the Moon is bad too, isn't it?" O'Neill asked.

"Yes, depending on changes to the trajectory and mass, it could threaten much of the Earth's ecosystem," Sam said bluntly.

"It gets worse. Parts of the asteroid - and the Moon, we think - crashed down on Earth. Large pieces fell from mainland Asia in a path across the US and into the Atlantic. We don't know how much damage there was, but from what communication still worked, we heard that much of South and South-East Asia was completely flooded. So was the east and west coast of the American continent. Lots of dirt had been thrown up by the meteorites that hit land, and it didn't take long before it started snowing and became really cold. It was bad on the survivors." Reynolds looked grim. "From then it happened much quicker than anyone could have expected, and now most of the planet probably look like it does in Colorado Springs."

"What about survivors?" O'Neill asked.

Reynolds shook his head. "Communication is out most of the time, so we don't really now. Not many, we think. There's interference - or maybe no one is out there broadcasting. We sent as many through the Stargate to the alpha site as we could, but now we no longer have the power. The entire facility runs on generators, and they can't give enough juice to run the Stargate."

"Do you know if-" Sam was interrupted when the door was slammed open and a man entered, followed by two guards.

"Why was I not informed?" he demanded.

"Kinsey!" O'Neill exclaimed.


	7. Chapter 7

"Why did you not report their presence _immediately_?" Kinsey demanded. "It was only luck that I heard about it at all!"

"I wouldn't call it _luck_ ," O'Neill mumbled.

"What is _he_ doing here?" Daniel asked.

"I could ask you the same. I was informed you had been killed." Kinsey turned to Reynolds. "What _is_ this? Were I lied to or - are you sure they're not infiltrators?"

"They _are_ who they say they are, but how they came to be here is a rather long story," Reynolds said. "And I do apologize for not contacting you immediately, but I needed to ascertain their identity before involving any civilians."

"I want an explanation!" Kinsey insisted hotly.

O'Neill and Teal'c both looked as if they wanted to kill Kinsey, and Sam did not look much friendlier. Jacob|Selmak mostly looked confused and irritated. Daniel decided it was better to defuse the situation immediately.

"We'll give you a summary," Daniel promised and began to explain.

* * *

"You're from another reality!" Kinsey exclaimed.

"Timeline," Sam said, getting tired of correcting people.

"And you arrived in a spaceship, which you have parked outside. Don't you think that sounds just a _little_ convenient and suspicious?" Kinsey asked.

"We didn't change the timeline with the cargo ship! We used it to travel through space!" Daniel exclaimed. "And most recently we just flew in it here on Earth."

"That is the most ludicrous thing I have ever heard!" Kinsey said. "Admit it - you're imposters, sent here to spy on us, or maybe even brainwash us and make us betray our country."

O'Neill scoffed. "Come on! Spy on you? Betray your country? Why would we _want_ to do that? It's not like you have anything anyone want."

"Mister Kinsey, please relax. I know these people, and I'm sure we can trust them, whatever universe they are from," Reynolds said, patiently.

"I think you are naive, and I want them to be guarded at all times," Kinsey said, before he left the room.

* * *

Reynolds took them to the mess hall where they got something to eat. Stargate Command was low on supplies, but they were lucky - it was the one day of the week where real food was served, and not MREs.

After eating potatoes with a meat stew, they were all in a much better mood, all things considered. They had also gotten a bath and clean BDUs, so as long as they did not pay too much attention to the small number of personnel or the almost complete lack of familiar faces, it was almost possible to pretend everything was normal.

Reynolds was one of only four people on the base they recognized, but many of their friends had been among those who went to the alpha site.

O'Neill threw a glance at the two guards who followed them everywhere. "Do you really have to obey Kinsey?"

"I know about your history with the man, but believe it or not - more than half the people here are loyal to him."

O'Neill gave him a strange look. "How did that happen?"

"Many of them arrived here with him, and they hope he will be able to save them. Get them to the alpha site."

"No offence, but without a power source you won't be able to dial the Stargate," Jacob said.

"I know. We just have to find one." Reynolds gave them a small smile. "Which probably isn't going to happen, but you can hope, right? Anyway, there's plenty of vacant rooms. Do you want your old ones - or do you prefer VIP rooms?"

Daniel yawned. "Sure. My old room sounds good to me."

Sam had been quiet for some time, clearly thinking about something. "You mentioned parts of the Moon had been destroyed. Is it visible to the naked eye?"

Reynolds nodded. "It is. The Moon got a real hard push, and it looks as if it's gotten closer as well. If you want we can go topside and look."

"I would like that," Sam said. "Did it affect the trajectory?"

"So would I," Daniel added.

"Let's go, then - and yes, from what we have been able to tell, the trajectory is not only closer, but also more asymmetrical," Reynolds told them.

* * *

"Yep, it's a deathstar all right," O'Neill said, looking unhappily at the Moon.

"There is a strong resemblance," Teal'c agreed. "Most peculiar."

"It is too bad we can't study the effects more closely," Sam said. "Dad, what kind of scanners does the teltac have?"

"Sam, I'm not sure that's what we want to spend the time on."

Daniel shook his head. "Right now I'm just really glad we've got that Furling device so we can undo _this_."

* * *

Next day they had another meeting with Kinsey, which he had arranged.

"Major Carter. That spaceship you mentioned yesterday, it must have a lot of power to be able to fly across the universe," Kinsey observed.

"Um, yeah, it does," Sam answered warily, not sure what he was up to.

"Could it power the Stargate?"

"Well, theoretically I guess it could, but..."

"In fact you are _sure_ it can, aren't you? See, I talked to some of my people, and they promise me that they can get the Stargate up and running in _no_ time using your spaceship. Curious that you forget to mention this detail!"

"That's _not_ going to happen!" O'Neill insisted. "We need it."

"You _need_ it? What about the people here on this base? With the energy from that spaceship we could open the Stargate and send the rest to the alpha site, saving them!"

"I, I can see what you mean, but you know what? It's not going to matter, because we change the timeline and then none of this has happened," Daniel said. "Right, Sam?"

"My God! You just admitted to planning to kill us all!" Kinsey got a strangely triumphant look on his face. "Arrest them, all of them! _Guards_!"

"Now wait just one damn minute..." O'Neill exclaimed as the two guards raised their weapons. Moments later the door was opened from the outside to allow two more guards entry.

Soon SG-1 and Jacob|Selmak were lead off to a holding cell.

* * *

"I am going to _kill_ Kinsey!" O'Neill said.

"I am amenable to assist you," Teal'c told him.

"We should have brought our weapons!" O'Neill grumbled. He shook his head. "Who could have guessed that the highest ranking surviving member of the US government would be _him_!"

"We're screwed," Daniel said, morosely.

"We've been in worse situations," Sam said, trying to cheer him up.

"When? Not only are we locked up, but we're on an Earth that's a frozen snowball, circled by a, a _deathstar_!" Daniel said. "And we've got _no_ way to change that without the Furling device."

"What concerns me most is that Kinsey - or someone else - might accidentally change the settings and activate it. Then not only will the timeline change randomly, but we will no longer know it has done so," Jacob pointed out.

"Could you just _not_ talk like that?" O'Neill said, a pained expression on his face.

"It is clear we must escape as soon as possible." Teal'c walked to the door and began examining it.

He ran his fingers along the edge of the door, attempting to find somewhere he could get his fingers in and get enough leverage to pull at the door. Giving up on that, he tried putting his shoulder against the door. Nothing had any effect, and it did not budge.

Giving up for now, Teal'c returned to sit beside O'Neill. He had only just done so when they heard someone outside the door.

Moments later, the door opened and Reynolds stood in the doorway. He quickly looked from side to side to make sure no one was in the corridor, then entered, closing the door after him.

"Reynolds! Get us out of here," O'Neill insisted, getting up.

He shook his head. "Sorry, I can't, but I can give you this." He removed the Furling cube from a bag he was carrying. "This is what you use to change the timeline?"

"Yes! And please be careful with that thing - it doesn't take much to set it off," O'Neill said.

Reynolds handed the device to him. "I gather it can't be any worse than it is."

"You're not concerned that the timeline will change and the life you know will be replaced by something else? That you won't remember this life?" Sam asked.

"No, if I understood you correct before, then it wasn't until a few weeks ago that the timeline was exactly the same as the one you're from. Which I gather is the real one?"

"As far as we know, yes," Jacob said.

Reynolds nodded. "Then that is good enough for me." He looked at O'Neill. "Whatever you do, you should do so quickly. Kinsey doesn't like you and he doesn't trust you. Or me. He would do what it takes to get me replaced."

"We'll make the change happens as soon as possible," O'Neill assured him. "And thanks."


	8. Chapter 8

"Ready to activate the damn thing?" O'Neill asked.

Daniel double-checked the settings, then nodded slowly. "I think so, yeah. Jack - what about Reynolds? He helped us."

"I think he'd rather not remember this timeline if that's what you mean," O'Neill said. "He's still alive back in our own timeline. I don't think it's a good idea for him to be here when the change happens, if I understand Carter correctly."

"We don't even know if the changes we are making is going to improve the timeline," Sam pointed out.

"Right." Daniel let his hand slide over the cube's smooth metal surface and come to rest on the red crystal. He suddenly felt that it glowed menacingly at him. He sighed. "Okay, here we go!" He pressed hard, and the now familiar flash enveloped them.

* * *

"Well, we're still in the cell," O'Neill observed. "That's something, I guess."

Jacob nodded. "Agreed. The Cheyenne Mountain Complex is still here, at least."

O'Neill walked up to the door and pushed down the handle. It opened easily. Grinning, he stepped outside and motioned for the others to follow.

"Good thing it wasn't locked. It would have been hard to explain why we were in there," Daniel mused.

"Yeah, it may still be a bit strange that I am suddenly here at the SGC, but we'll see what people say. We should find George and talk to him," Jacob said.

"I wonder how close this is to the real timeline," Sam said, looking around. "Everything _looks_ the same."

"So did the base on the frozen iceball-Earth," O'Neill reminded her.

They walked around in the corridors for some time, the strange silence soon beginning to affect them, hushing their sparse communication.

After several minutes they reached the elevator without having seen anyone. They entered it and pushed the button for level 27 where Hammond's office was located.

"This is creepy," Daniel observed when they stepped out into an empty corridor.

"I agree. It _is_ a little spooky. I wonder where everyone is?" Sam said.

Getting more and more worried, they opened the door to Hammond's office, then to the briefing room they had used so often in the past. Everywhere it was empty, and many places had evidence of fighting, including broken furniture and blood on the floor.

"That's a staff blast," O'Neill said, looking unhappily at the wall.

"Yes. There were more in the corridor," Teal'c told him.

O'Neill nodded. "It looks like they were overrun, but why are there no bodies? I mean, it's not like I _want_ to find bodies, but..."

"It's eerie that there aren't any, yes," Jacob agreed.

"They were attacked by some Goa'uld, clearly. Maybe we can find out which one if we take a look at the surveillance videos?" Sam suggested.

"My guess would be Weneg. He is a minor Goa'uld, a son of Ra who fell from grace and has at times been allied with Apophis, Ra's enemy. He is, well, I guess you would say obsessive. He will not leave any enemy behind, even dead, fearing they will attack him if they are out of his control. Yes, that includes rising again to attack him. I never said he was sane, but he is a useful ally for Apophis, from time to time," Jacob said.

"Well, the Goa'uld do have sarcophagi, so it isn't as strange as you would think to worry his dead enemies will rise again," Sam observed.

"True," Jacob conceded. "At any rate, if this attack was carried out by him, then it happened in Apophis's name, and with his Jaffa."

O'Neill shrugged. "Okay. I don't really care which Goa'uld did this, but if you think it's important, then by all means, let's go and take a look at the surveillance videos. We'll stop on the way there and see if there's a weapon's locker that still has weapons."

* * *

"You're right, that's Apophis Jaffa right there," O'Neill said.

They were looking at one of the videos, which showed a battle taking place between Jaffa and soldiers from Stargate Command. After some time, a tall man with black hair and a muscular build walked up to a group of Jaffa. He was wearing sky blue clothing, styled as in the ancient Egypt, and also wore a long, flowing black cape. He said something to one of the Jaffa, then handed some sort of device to him. He turned around with a cruel grin and left the scene.

"What was that?" Daniel wondered.

"That is a Goa'uld device used for dispersing a gas. My guess is that it is some sort of nerve gas, or perhaps just a sleep gas," Jacob said.

"Could it still be in the air?" O'Neill asked quickly, a concerned look on his face.

Jacob shook his head. "No, it wouldn't make sense to use a persistent gas."

"Well, we know what happened. The Goa'uld attacked, then won." O'Neill looked unhappily at the screen. "Let's get out of here."

"Don't you think it's strange that they just left? Wouldn't they have sent anyone here to take over?" Daniel wondered.

"I'm sure they will, but most likely they took everyone they didn't kill prisoners, then the Jaffa went topside to help conquer and suppress the population," Jacob said. "The only thing that's strange is that we didn't see anyone in the gateroom when we looked there."

"We only looked through the window of the control room, and only briefly. Let's have a look again," O'Neill decided. He checked his weapon before walking out the door ahead of the others.

* * *

"There is no one there," Teal'c said, when they had reached the control room and were looking down into the gateroom through the glass that was covered in marks from staff blasts.

"Then let's get the hell out of here. We can find someplace safe and figure out the next step," O'Neill said. "Carter, dial it up - land of the light sounds good to me."

"Yes, sir." Sam sat down by the dialling computer. She typed for some time, getting a puzzled expression. After another several minutes, she looked up. "I can't dial out, nor can I open the iris. Someone has introduced a virus of some kind."

"A virus?" O'Neill asked.

"Yes, sir. My guess is that the Goa'uld decided it wasn't worth spending time fixing until they've got the planet under control."

"Makes sense, I guess."

"Sam, can I take a look?" Jacob said. He had been keeping an eye on the screen and discussing with Selmak, and they had a suspicion.

"Sure, dad." She got up and let her dad take the seat.

Jacob gave Selmak control, and she spent several minutes typing on the computer before turning to look at O'Neill. "It is as we suspected. The computer virus is of Tok'ra origin."

"What?" O'Neill looked very confused. "What does that mean?"

"It means that a Tok'ra put it in the dialling system, most likely in order to stop the Goa'uld from either dialling out or in, bringing in troops."

O'Neill nodded. "Good plan, I guess - only the snakeheads came in ships, so it didn't really help."

"Do you think the Tok'ra is still here?" Daniel asked.

"Probably not. He or she would be trapped," Sam said.

Selmak suddenly froze, and looked towards the door. "Symbiote," she said, .

The others turned to see as well, just as the door opened and someone very familiar entered the room.


	9. Chapter 9

"Martouf!" Sam exclaimed, shocked.

He looked at her, and then at her team mates, his mouth gaping in surprise for several moments before he caught himself. "Hello, Samantha. Daniel Jackson, Teal'c, Colonel O'Neill." He turned to Jacob|Selmak. "Jacob. How is this possible? SG-1 was killed, almost two years ago."

"I think you're mistaken about _who_ was killed, Marty," O'Neill said.

"You're alive!" Sam slowly shook her head.

Martouf frowned. "Yes. Why would I not be alive?"

"Long story. Probably also about why we're alive," Daniel said.

"We do not have the time." Martouf looked out the door as the sound of an elevator arriving could be heard. "That is almost certainly Jaffa."

"Daniel, tweak the cube and activate it. Now!" O'Neill ordered.

"But Jack, I don't know how to adjust it this qui-"

"I don't care! Just change the timeline - try not making it worse, but just do it. _Now_!"

"Of course." Daniel changed one of the settings marginally and pressed the red crystal. The white flash enveloped them all.

* * *

"All right, let's hope..." O'Neill began. He was interrupted by screams and sounds of weapon's fire coming from outside the door, in the corridor. "What the hell is going on?" He looked up. "And why is the stairwell blocked off completely?"

Martouf, who stood close to the door, opened it and looked out. He stared in disbelief for a few moments, then slammed it shut again as a man came running up to it in the corridor, growling and looking absolutely insane. "Help me push something in front of the door!"

Leaning against the door as hard as he could, Martouf only just managed to keep it closed. Teal'c ran to join him and put his shoulder against it, and now the person outside could no longer force it open.

"Was that _Harriman_?" Daniel asked, in shock.

"I think so," Sam agreed, shaking her head as she helped Jacob and O'Neill push a table up against the door so Martouf and Teal'c did not have to hold it closed.

"Okay, I think that will hold," Jacob said, when they had added a couple chairs to the table as well.

Someone outside was hammering at the door and snarling and growling all the time. It was most unsettling.

"Did the rest of you see what I saw?" Daniel asked, throwing worried looks at the door. "Those, those..."

" _Zombies_. Yes, we did, Daniel." O'Neill shook his head.

"I do not know what zombies are, but I do not believe it would be wise to enter the corridor again as long as they are there," Martouf said. "That man, _Harriman_ , he tried to bite me!"

"He didn't succeed, did he?" O'Neill asked. "Let me see!"

Martouf shook his head. "No, he did not get close enough."

"Thank God! If that was the case I'd have to shoot you," O'Neill said.

"Shoot me? I don't understand."

"Sir, do you really think that _real_ zombies - or whatever we're supposed to call them - would be contagious like that? Or even that they could be, zombies. It doesn't make any sense," Sam said.

"I don't care. I'm not going to take that chance," O'Neill insisted.

"Zombies are previously dead beings who have risen again, filled with an all-consuming taste for human flesh," Teal'c explained helpfully.

"Previously dead? This was caused by a _sarcophagus_?" Martouf asked, disbelief clear on his face.

"No," O'Neill said.

"It is usually a virus," Teal'c told him.

Martouf nodded slowly. "Maybe something created by Nirrti."

"Unfortunately, that makes a lot of sense," Jacob said.

They all looked towards the door. The 'zombies' were still trying to get in. A snarl could be heard from above the blocked off stairwell, and when they looked up a creature which probably once were human, tried to force itself past the stuff blocking the way down.

"Okay, we're not staying here," O'Neill decided. "Carter, Daniel, tweak the cube a bit and hit 'activate'."

Sam and Daniel put the cube on the table and began discussing the best configuration.

"What is that," Martouf wondered.

"It changes the timeline," Sam began. "We found it..."

"Not now, Carter! There's _zombies_ outside the door and upstairs, and we haven't got nearly enough bullets. Any explanation can be done wherever we end up!"

"Yes, sir."

The zombies outside the door kept scratching and snarling, and the ones upstairs pulled at the furniture that had been stuffed into the stairwell to keep it blocked. It was unnerving everyone inside the room.

"Carter! What's taking so long?" O'Neill wondered.

"Sorry, sir, but we can't seem to activate the device. I think it's out of power."

" _What_? Does that mean we're _stuck_ here?" O'Neill exclaimed.

"A shot from a staff weapon recharged it last time. We just need to find one and shoot it again," Jacob reminded them.

"And how do we get hold of a staff weapon _here_?" O'Neill asked.

"There should be one in my quarters," Teal'c said.

"Which is two floors up, through _who_ knows how many zombies!" O'Neill pointed out. "Find another solution."

"I have a zat'nik'tel. It is not as powerful as a staff weapon, but we should attempt to use that," Martouf said, taking it from the holder in his belt and handing it to Sam.

Jacob shrugged. "I guess it can't hurt trying."

"All right, but no more than two shots! We don't want the device to disappear!" O'Neill warned. "I am _so_ not getting stuck in this timeline!"

Sam sent him an insulted look, then put the device down on the table and took a step back. She fired at the device once, then tried pushing the crystal. When nothing happened, she fired at it again. "Still nothing, though the corners glow a bit stronger, so it _has_ been charged some."

"Just not enough," O'Neill mused. "So if we fire at it enough times it should work?"

"Probably. Since this is obviously not the normal way of recharging it there is no way to know," Sam said.

O'Neill nodded curtly. "How long before we can shoot it again?"

"At least ten-fifteen minutes to be on the safe side," Martouf said.

Just as he had said that, a scraping sound was heard and they all turned to look at the door. The door was being pushed inward a little bit again, moving the table some before it slammed back shut.

"I think there's more of them out there now," Jacob said, worriedly. "And they are _very_ dedicated to getting in here."

"I agree. We don't dare wait. Any ideas?" O'Neill asked.

Sam walked over to the large window set into the control room wall. The cover was not down, so she could see the Stargate and the gateroom. The _empty_ gateroom. "There are no zombies down there. The access door is closed. I wonder if it is locked?"

"You dial your chaapa'ai from in here, so we could try doing so and see if the sound attract... _zombies_. If it does not, we make a whole in the window and escape offworld," Martouf suggested.

"Great idea! Dial it up, Carter!" O'Neill said.

They held their breaths when the first noise came from the Stargate as it began to move. Outside the door, the zombies became silent.

"Well, they heard that all right," Jacob whispered.

After a few moments they could all hear the sound of people moving outside, slowly walking away, some of them sounding as if they were perhaps dragging a foot.

"Creepy," Daniel whispered.

He got a warning look from O'Neill, and remained silent until the sounds outside was growing faint.

Down in the gateroom the Stargate had made its kawoosh, but no zombies came through the access doors.

"It looks like the doors are still locked down there. Good," Sam said, relieved.

"Where did you dial to?" Daniel asked.

"BP6-3Q1," Sam said.

"What planet is that?" O'Neill asked.

"The planet with those big bugs. You know, the ones that stings people and rewrite their DNA?" Sam said.

"Are you _crazy_? We don't want to go there!" O'Neill exclaimed.

"No, but since I didn't know if the... zombies could get into the gateroom and maybe walk through the wormhole I didn't want to risk dialling a world that could be populated, sir," Sam said, looking a bit miffed.

O'Neill nodded, looking a little apologetic. "Good call. Okay, let's figure out a way to make a hole in the glass and then we dial the gate address to somewhere nice." He tried to lift a steel cabinet that stood in a corner, but quickly gave up. "Teal'c! Come on over here and help me throw this through the window."

Together they managed, and soon one of the sharp corners of the cabinet hit the window with some force. The glass cracked, but did not break. They managed to lift the cabinet again and threw it one more time, and now the glass did break and the cabinet fell through and down into the gateroom.

O'Neill looked down to see folders and paper all over the floor of the gateroom. He smiled, satisfied. "Okay, try to find something we can use as a rope while I clean this up." He grabbed a fire extinguisher that hung on the back wall and started clearing away the remaining glass with it.

* * *

"I dialled 'the Land of the Light'," Sam said, when they were all standing down in the gateroom.

"Sounds good. Let's get going before the zombies make it into the gateroom and through the window," O'Neill said.

They walked up the ramp towards the open wormhole, turning briefly to look back before they walked through.

The zombies had clearly decided they would have better luck with the door to the gateroom, and had now forced their way inside. The last SG-1 and the two Tok'ra saw before they ran through the wormhole was a snarling zombie standing by the broken window.


	10. Chapter 10

Holding their weapons at the ready, they waiting by the open wormhole. It was not long before first one, then two, then several more zombies walked through and immediately attacked.

"Aim for the head!" O'Neill shouted over the sound of weapon's fire.

"They are most difficult to kill," Teal'c exclaimed, emptying his magazine into the raging and snarling creature approaching him. He slammed another magazine into his P90 and aimed at the next zombie.

The creatures kept coming in a steady stream until the wormhole finally shut down. By then all of them were out of ammunition and Teal'c had killed the last two with a branch he tore from a tree.

The relief in all of them was palpable when no more zombies were attacking.

"Let's dial up some other world, just to be safe," O'Neill said, exhausted.

"In your movies, zombies are not intelligent enough to do something like dialling a Stargate," Teal'c said.

"If it really _is_ Nirrti who has created these zombies, then I wouldn't be so sure they can't figure it out. Daniel, dial somewhere else. Somewhere nice, with no Goa'uld," O'Neill ordered. "And no zombies."

"Uh, how do I know? I mean, this is an altered timeline," Daniel pointed out. "Any planet could have been taken over by the Goa'uld."

"The change must be recent - Stargate Command was there and looked like it normally does, except for the people being zombies," Sam said. "It's unlikely there are many other differences."

"We can go to Marloon. It is peaceful there and the Goa'uld abandoned it many centuries ago," Martouf suggested.

"Dial it up, then, Marty," O'Neill said. "And hurry up!"

* * *

"Was anyone bitten?" O'Neill asked, worriedly, when he surveyed the others, and the bloody and torn clothing they - and he - were wearing.

"No," Sam assured him.

"No, it is not my blood," Martouf told him.

"I... don't think so," Daniel said.

"I was not," Teal'c said.

"I was. Selmak tells me to virus is... quite aggressive and innovative, but that she can kill it. You don't need to worry," Jacob said. He held up his arm, showing them a jagged bite under his torn sleeve.

"I'm going to worry anyway - and put a guard on you until I'm sure you're not changing," O'Neill told him. "Sorry, but that's how it's going to be."

Jacob nodded. "I understand, though I don't think you should assume everything is like in the zombie movies - yes, even I've watched one - but better safe than sorry. It _is_ an unknown virus, possibly created by Nirrti."

"Oh, my god, Dad! You're sure Selmak can fix that?" Sam looked very worriedly at the wound.

"That's what she tells me, and she's usually right. Don't worry, kiddo."

Sam nodded slowly, not convinced. "Well, let's go get washed off. It's probably a bad idea walking around with infectious blood on us - sooner or later someone will get a cut."

"And then - boom, zombie." O'Neill nodded. "Yeah, get into the ocean all of you - this place is warm and pleasant, so we'll be okay until our clothes dry."

* * *

"All right, this looks peaceful enough," O'Neill said, sitting down in the sand under a large palm tree. He let out a satisfied sigh and looked up at the blue sky through the leaves. "In fact, this is perfect! Now I just need a cold beer." He frowned as he looked at Jacob, his good mood immediately gone.

"I shall keep guard," Teal'c informed him, walking a few steps away so he could keep an eye on both Jacob and the path that lead to the Stargate.

"I doubt it is necessary. We have never met anyone hostile here," Martouf said. "But since this is a different... timeline, it is perhaps a good idea." He looked at Jacob. "I am certain a symbiote can cure even a virus created by Nirrti, so I do not believe there is a danger there either."

"Selmak is confident." Jacob gave them a wry smile. "Besides, she tells me to say that _if_ she should fail, you can just make a change to the timeline when we're out of range. We'll be as good as new in the altered timeline."

"Or not there at all, so let's hope it won't be necessary," Sam said, looking very concerned.

"Shouldn't we try to figure out if we're closer to or longer from fixing the timeline," Daniel said, sitting down on a tree log.

Sam nodded, sitting down beside him. "Daniel, you only changed the settings marginally when this timeline was created, right?"

"Yes, and only one of the eight settings."

"Great." Sam looked up at Martouf. "Martouf, I guess it's high time to ask some questions of you so we can figure out what the difference was between the timeline we met you in, and the real one."

"Of course, Samantha." He frowned. "Though I always thought my timeline _was_ the real one. But since all members of SG-1 are dead there, and you clearly are alive, I realize something is not as I thought. In addition, you seem to believe _I_ should be dead?"

"It's a rather long story," Jacob said, sitting down on a large rock beside the others. "Take a seat, then we'll try to update you - and you can tell us how things were in your timeline. Then we can perhaps figure out what was changed, and when."

"Dad - relax and let Selmak fix you. Daniel and I will explain," Sam said. She glanced unhappily at the wound on her father's arm. It was an angry red and blue, and the whole area was swollen. It also looked like an infection was spreading from it. "Please!"

Jacob nodded slowly, clearly tired and not feeling well. "Sure. Go ahead."

* * *

"So it sounds as if the timeline was unchanged up until early summer 2000, or thereabout," Daniel said.

"Yes. That is when Samantha, Daniel Jackson, Colonel O'Neill, and Teal'c were killed on a mission to destroy Apophis's newly constructed mothership," Martouf said.

"Did we test some freaky armbands in your timeline?" O'Neill asked, looking up from where he was half-lying against a palm. "Because Anise had _us_ do that."

Martouf nodded. "Yes, the Atanik armbands." He looked sad. "You, Samantha, and Daniel Jackson were wearing them. They stopped working during the mission and Teal'c attempted to rescue you, but he did not succeed and the explosive charges you had planted detonated while you were all still inside."

"Crap," O'Neill said. "So that's the difference?"

"Yes, we think so - and that lead to a number of other differences, of course, including Apophis attacking Earth together with his vassal, Weneg," Sam said. "And, incidentally, to Martouf and Lantash surviving."

"Right. So what about the zombies?" O'Neill wondered. "What caused them?"

"Well, that was another small change. It could really have been anything, but probably some Goa'uld, likely Nirrti, decided to release that 'zombie' virus on Stargate Command," Sam explained. She threw a glance at her dad who had laid down on the ground and looked like he was asleep right now.

"Okay, so does this mean you know what each of the settings on the cube means, and how to adjust them?" O'Neill asked.

Sam glanced at Daniel, but he did not appear to want to say anything. She sighed. "There are eight corners of the cube, of course. Each of those can be adjusted to change the settings. Daniel only made a change to one of them to take us from Martouf's timeline to the zombie timeline. We _think_ that corner only changes the size of the permutation. One or more of them must control how far back in time a change should happen."

"So, progress?" O'Neill asked, hopefully.

"Yes, progress," Sam agreed.

"Just not as much as we would like," Daniel admitted.

"What about Marty? Now he's in a different timeline too. Will that affect anything?" O'Neill asked.

Sam shook her head. "I don't think so. Not when it comes to fixing our own timeline. He and Lantash are dead there. If it had been someone who is alive there, it might be harder to recreate the timeline since that person would end up with different knowledge and in a different place than otherwise."

"That's true for us as well," Daniel pointed out.

"Yes, but only the part about the extra knowledge, or experiences." She shook her head, and made a pained sound. "At least I think so. There isn't exactly any science _I_ know that helps me here!"

"Okay, just focus on figuring out the right settings of the cube."

"We believe we have set a change which may be larger than the others, but which will teach us a good deal," Sam said.

"Get started on charging it, then. I'm getting hungry anyway, and so are the rest of you I'm guessing, so we can't stay," O'Neill said, looking at Jacob with worry. "Anyone know how Jacob is doing?"


	11. Chapter 11

Martouf got up to go and check on Jacob.

"Careful!" O'Neill exclaimed. "If he has turned into a zombie he may jump up and bite you!"

"I am _not_ a zombie, thank you very much!" Jacob grumbled testily.

"Jacob, you are awake," Martouf observed, smiling relieved.

"Dad! How are you doing?" Sam exclaimed, hurrying to his side.

"Tired, but all right," Jacob said, smiling at Sam. "Selmak has cleared the infection, but she tells me it was the hardest one she has ever encountered. It infected her as well at some point, so she needed to cure herself before she could focus on mel."

"Crap!" O'Neill said. "Are you sure you guys are okay?"

"We are," Jacob assured him.

Martouf leaned down to look at the arm, relieved to see that the infection had cleared and it was starting to heal. "I agree. It is healing well now."

Sam smiled widely and patted her father's hand. "You have no idea how happy I am that you'll be fine. Tell Selmak thanks!"

* * *

"It's charged?" O'Neill asked, looking at the Furling cube that was sitting on one of the larger rocks.

"Yes. Took a _lot_ of shots from the zat'nik'tel, but it is. Should be good for several changes, at least," Sam said.

"Okay, fire it up, then," O'Neill told her.

Sam nodded. "Get closer to me guys, so we're sure everyone is pulled along."

* * *

"Now when I'm feeling better and have looked around a little, I'd say that everything looks the same compared to that time when you took me here to see it," Jacob observed. "Selmak reminds me that probably doesn't mean anything."

"I do not believe so, no," Martouf said. "As we talked about earlier, this planet has been abandoned by the Goa'uld for centuries. It would not have changed, regardless."

"How do we get to Earth? We don't have our GDOs," O'Neill said. "Not that they would probably help us."

"Depending on how changed a timeline this is, there's the teltac Jolinar left behind when she fled from Cronus," Sam suggested.

"This may be a stupid question, but since it's the one we used a couple days ago, do you really think it's still there? Or _again_ there, I suppose I should say," O'Neill asked.

Sam considered it for a moment. "Yes, unless we are in a timeline that was only changed _after_ that event. Which is extremely unlikely unless we've completely misunderstood how the settings on the Furling device work."

O'Neill nodded. "Let's hope not. Okay, let's go check it out."

* * *

"It's not here!" Sam admitted.

"Which means... what, exactly?" O'Neill asked.

Sam shook her head. "Could be many reasons. We'll have to see how it looks somewhere else. Earth, or maybe we could talk to some of our allies."

"We should go to Chulak. Bra'tac will be able to assist us," Teal'c said.

"Good idea. Dial it up, Daniel," O'Neill told him immediately.

"Wait," Jacob said. "No offence, Teal'c, but can you be sure that Bra'rac is the one you know?"

"He is an honourable man in any timeline! I am certain of that!"

"I do not question that, but what if you never turned against Apophis in this timeline? What if you never met anyone from Earth? You don't know how different this is," Jacob reminded him.

Teal'c hesitated, then nodded. "Your point is well taken, Jacob. I should go alone."

"What if you never became First Prime? Never even went to Chulak, but stayed with Cronus? Would it be safe for you to go to Chulak then?" O'Neill said. "No, we all go, but if Bra'tac doesn't know us, but he does know _you_ , then you tell him we're your prisoners and we'll take it from there." He sighed. "It's really too bad we're all out of ammo."

* * *

Martouf had given Teal'c his zat'nik'tel, the only weapon they had which still could fire. If it turned out Bra'tac had not met SG-1 then it was better anyway that Teal'c had a Goa'uld weapon.

More than a little hesitantly, they walked through the wormhole and out on Chulak. Guards stood by the Stargate, and since they did not not appear to recognize them, Teal'c immediately pretended the humans and Tok'ra with him were his prisoners.

"Forward, _has'shaks_!" Teal'c told them.

"Stop," one of the guards said, approaching Teal'c. "Welcome back, Teal'c. Who are these with you?"

"They are my prisoners! I am taking them to Apophis."

The guard inclined his head. "Understood. Apophis is not currently in his palace. You are also ordered to contact Master Bra'tac the moment you returned."

"Very well. Where is he?"

* * *

"Master Bra'tac." Teal'c bowed before the older Jaffa. "I bring a group of Tau'ri prisoners who I captured slandering our lord Apophis."

He could have kicked himself when he realized he had called them Tau'ri instead of humans, but there was no reaction to it from Bra'tac. Apparently, the Tau'ri were again well known in the Galaxy, which could be both good or bad.

Unfortunately, the Jaffa at the Stargate had insisted on calling for guards to assist Teal'c with his many 'prisoners', and that meant they had no option but to continue the charade for now. They could only hope that Bra'tac was the same person of integrity as he was in their timeline.

Bra'tac nodded curtly. "Well done, Teal'c. We will make sure these traitors are brought to justice, and we are most fortunate that it will be on their own world." He turned to the guards. "You may leave. We will handle this." He grabbed the staff weapon that stood against the wall, and aimed it towards the group of newcomers.

"Yes, master Bra'tac." The guards left.

"All right, then. Good way to get rid of the guards, Bra'tac!" O'Neill smiled at him. "Now, we do have..."

He was interrupted when Bra'tac slapped him over the back of the head, hard. "Silence, has'shak! Teal'c, your prisoners are insolent!" He raised the staff weapon and pointed it at O'Neill.

"Bra'tac?" O'Neill asked, disbelieving. "You're not going to _kill_ us, are you?"

Bra'tac scoffed. "I feel most tempted to do so, but that is the privilege of our god!" He called, "Fro'tak! Ma'kar! Come here!"

Teal'c got an angry expression and was about to say something at the sight of Fro'tak, but at the last moment controlled himself. O'Neill sent him a warning look, and Teal'c took a deep breath and nodded imperceptibly, making his understanding clear.

"You live here?" Daniel asked, absorbed in looking at the walls of the large house. They were richly decorated, and everywhere stood beautiful, engraved furniture. "Alone?"

"Of course I live here! Together with my loyal apprentices - and the woman given to me by Apophis as thank you for bravery in a great battle I - and Teal'c - recently won him!" Bra'tac grinned widely and activated his staff weapon. "Now walk! Or I will have to inform Lord Apophis that you were regrettably killed during an escape attempt!"

Bra'tac, Fro'tak, and Ma'kar led Sam, Daniel, Martouf|Lantash, O'Neill, and Jacob|Selmak back to the Stargate. Teal'c followed, having to keep up appearances.

"Okay, where are we going?" O'Neill asked, when Bra'tac began dialling.

"A place you should know quite well, human. We are going to the world of the Tau'ri, to Apophis's palace. There he will judge you, and you will receive your punishment in front of your fellow Tau'ri. Perhaps it will teach them not to be so impudent," Bra'tac informed them. He hit the red center crystal and the wormhole sprang to life. He gave O'Neill a push forward. "Move!"


	12. Chapter 12

They all looked around at the imposing buildings standing around the plaza were the Stargate was located.

"This isn't Stargate Command," Daniel observed in a low voice.

"Obviously not. I wonder where we are?" O'Neill said, frowning at the Jaffa guards. "This place is strangely familiar."

"Washington," Sam said, half-turning and pointing. "See? It's the national mall. They just put tiles on much of the grass, removed some trees, and, well." She frowned. "It looks like they changed the front of some of the buildings and added some statues."

"Lots of very colourful statues." O'Neill shook his head. "You're right. It's crazy, but..."

"Silence!" Bra'tac bellowed, and gave O'Neill a hard thwack across the back with his staff weapon. He stepped up to the nearest guard. "Inform Lord Apophis that his servant Bra'tac-" He looked at Teal'c, frowning at his torn, dirty clothing. "And his apprentice Teal'c, are bringing prisoners."

"Yes, master Bra'tac." The guard bowed deeply, then turned to one of the other guards. "You have command." He took off running.

Bra'tac gave Martouf a shove. "Get walking!" He motioned at the others. "Move!"

"You don't think that is Apophis's palace here on Earth?" Daniel wondered, nodding in the direction of the building straight ahead.

"Oh, I feel confident that is the place. Unfortunately," O'Neill mumbled, looking at the Capitol Building.

* * *

"Ah, the ungrateful blasphemers," Apophis said, leaning back in his throne chair. "Kneel before your god, and beg for forgiveness and you may yet be shown mercy." He grinned, leering at Sam. "Very attractive! I may have a position for you."

Sam rolled her eyes and snorted. "Like that is going to happen!"

"Silence, human!" Apophis ordered, furious at the interruption.

"I apologize for their behaviour, my Lord," Bra'tac said, bowing.

"Let go of me!" Lantash suddenly exclaimed, pulling his arm free from the grip of the surprised Jaffa. He had talked it over with Martouf, and they had decided it was worth a try to see if they could trick Apophis into thinking they were Goa'uld. He would sense them anyway, so they had nothing to lose. "Your Jaffa are idiots! They refused to listen, and apprehended me when I was travelling with my human slaves. Now look at my clothes!"

"Indeed, they would not listen to me either," Selmak quickly added. "They should be punished severely!"

"My Lord! We did not know!" one of the Jaffa guards exclaimed, terrified. "We would never have treated a Goa'uld Lord like this!"

"Stupid Jaffa!" Apophis roared.

"I apologize, my Lord!" Bra'tac hurriedly said. "But I assure you, this is the first they have mentioned being Goa'uld."

"I wanted to see how stupid you would be," Lantash insisted. "It was amusing for a while, but it quickly became tiresome."

Apophis stared from one of the two 'Goa'uld' to the other, taking in their dirty, torn clothing, no different from what the others wore. Tau'ri clothing. A triumphant smile slowly spread across his face. "You are Tok'ra!"

"Tok'ra? How dare you!" Selmak exclaimed.

"Apophis smiled arrogantly. "Do not treat me as if I am a fool! It is obvious you are Tok'ra!" He raised his left hand with his hand device, and the red crystal in the middle began to glow menacingly. "It has been a long time since one of your kind attempted to interfere in my affairs. I look forward to learning all your secrets!"

"Apophis, have you forgotten the dinner with Zipacna, or am I to entertain him on my own?" a flanged voice said from the other end of the room.

Everyone turned to see a beautiful Goa'uld woman dressed in extravagant clothing, walking towards them from the entrance.

"Sha're!" Daniel exclaimed.

"Amaunet, my beloved. I apologize for being late. Important matters kept me," Apophis said.

"More important than dinner with me - and your closest ally?" Amaunet asked, smoothly.

Apophis hesitated for a moment. "Of course not. I shall be with you in a moment." He turned to Bra'tac. "You and your men will be richly rewarded for bringing me not only three insolent humans, but two Tok'ra as well!"

"Thank you, my Lord," Bra'tac said, bowing deeply.

Behind him, Teal'c, Fro'tak, and Ma'kar all bowed as well.

"Have them placed in a holding cell until I have time to interrogate them." Apophis began to leave. "Make sure they are searched and everything of value is removed from them."

"Yes, my Lord," Bra'tac promised.

* * *

"Well isn't this just swell!" O'Neill exclaimed, giving the door of the holding cell a kick.

"It was unfortunate our attempt to deceive Apophis did not work. It would be easier for one of us to free you than it will be for Teal'c, who has to make sure Bra'tac does not suspect him," Lantash said.

"Yeah, no offence, but you actually don't make a very convincing Goa'uld. Especially not dressed like that," O'Neill told him.

Lantash nodded. "That is no offence, quite on the contrary - though all things considered, it would have been easier if he had believed me."

"Right." O'Neill took a deep breath.

"Well, Teal'c will get us out, don't you think?" Daniel said. He had been silent, deep in thought, since he saw Sha're.

"I am sure he will try," Sam said.

"He's a resourceful fellow. He'll get us out," Jacob insisted.

Sam, Jacob, and Martouf began systematically checking the cell for any way to escape, while O'Neill and Daniel sat down on the bench.

"Did they really have to install cells that look exactly like those in a Goa'uld Ha'tak here on Earth, in the Capital Building!" O'Neill grumbled, glaring at the gold-covered walls.

"What did you expect," Jacob said, grinning a little.

"I just hope they feed us. We haven't eaten since - oh, two timelines ago," O'Neill complained. "It must have been yesterday... it's a bit confusing."

"It was yesterday," Daniel agreed.

"Any luck?" O'Neill asked.

Sam shook her head. "No, I can't find a way to short-circuit the lock from inside."

"The cell is new and well constructed," Lantash agreed with her.

"Great. Awesome." O'Neill made a low moan and leaned back against the wall. "Just typical!"

* * *

It was late evening, and they were trying to get some sleep when they were awoken by the sound of someone sliding back the small door set into the larger door. The opening were normally used for giving the prisoners food.

"What?" O'Neill mumbled. He woke up fully when he saw the opening. "Yes, they are finally feeding us!"

"I apologize, but I am not bringing food, O'Neill," Teal'c's voice said from the other side of the door.

"Teal'c! Open the door and get us out!" O'Neill insisted.

"I cannot. There is an alarm which will sound if it is opened without issuing a command which I do not know. This Apophis is of a quite suspicious nature."

"Bra'tac didn't give it to you?" Daniel asked.

"He does not seem to trust me. I do not know if it is a difference due to the timeline, or if it is caused by my clothing. He did not sound completely convinced when I explained it had been a ruse in order to capture you."

"Great," O'Neill grumbled. "Have you got any ideas on how to get us out?"

"I have. The plan may or may not make our situation better, but it will at least change it."

"The damn Furling device. Okay, I won't be sad to see this timeline go. Change it a bit and fire it up before anyone sees you." O'Neill motioned at the others who had woken up as well. "Get close to the door."

"Wait, Teal'c. Is there any way we can get Sha're to come down here?" Daniel said, hopeful.

"Queen Amaunet will not follow me anywhere, I am quite certain of that. If I did get her to come with me, she would bring several more guards," Teal'c said. "I am sorry, Daniel Jackson."

Daniel nodded sadly. "I know. I just had to ask." He took a deep breath. "Let me take a look at the settings on the device. Maybe I can suggest how to change it so it's only a small change."

"Sure. Go ahead," O'Neill said, moving aside so Daniel could look out through the small door.

Outside, Teal'c held the device in front of him so Daniel could look at it.

"Okay, I'm pretty sure turning the top left corner a nudge forward will make a small permutation - hopefully enough to free us without risking any other, more drastic changes," Daniel said.

"Understood," Teal'c said, turning a corner and pressing the crystal quickly.

"No! Wait, I meant seen from my persp..."


	13. Chapter 13

They were standing in a forest. As far as they could seem there were no people aside from themselves nearby. Around them birds were singing, and the weather was nice and not too cold for the season.

"All right. What the _hell_ happened! Why aren't we in Washington any more?" O'Neill demanded.

"Um, I think we are. That is, we're where Washington would _be_. If it existed here," Sam explained, carefully.

"Daniel!" O'Neill exclaimed.

"I meant 'seen from my perspective'! Teal'c turned the wrong corner in the wrong direction," Daniel said, trying to explain.

Teal'c inclined his head. "I apologize. I did not realize what you meant."

Jacob sighed. "It wasn't anyone's fault."

"Okay, just tweak the cube again and send us somewhere else," O'Neill ordered.

Teal'c handed the device to Daniel. "I believe you are more proficient in its use."

"It wasn't your fault, Teal'c. It was mine," Daniel said, and looked at the settings. He adjusted them. "Oops..."

"Oops? What do you mean 'oops'?" O'Neill demanded.

"There's no power left in the device. None. Not even enough to light up the text or the corners," Daniel explained.

" _What_?" Sam exclaimed. "There should have been enough to several more adjustments!"

"Samantha, could the change have been larger than the others?" Martouf asked. "Could that have drained it?"

Sam hesitated. "I don't think so. The settings were only changed a little." She frowned. "Unless... I guess it is possible this corner." She pointed. "Adds some multiplication factor. We haven't used it before."

"You said that half of the settings are for the size of the change, and half for _when_ in the past it is introduced, right?" Jacob asked.

"Yes," Sam agreed.

"So what is that corner for?"

" _When_ the change happens. We think." Sam sighed deeply. "I guess we might have made a change very far back in time. Even if it wasn't very big, it might have consumed a lot of energy from the device."

"That sounds likely. I don't see how such a small thingie can change everything in the universe anyway," O'Neill said.

"Would a change that happens a long time ago become amplified or disappear over time?" Martouf asked.

Sam shrugged. "No way to know. Not with what we know. In any case, I'm guessing _this_ change was amplified - resulting in the area here being uninhabited."

"Teal'c, you still got that zat, right?" O'Neill asked, hopeful.

"Unfortunately I was relieved of my weapon. It would appear Bra'tac is as observant in this timeline as in our own. As I mentioned earlier, he did not trust me. My only weapon is a knife."

"Well, that's more than the rest of us have," Daniel said. "So it's something. We'll probably need it. I suspect the animals here are hostile." He looked unhappy.

"All right. What I'm getting from all of this is that you don't really have any idea what has happened, and that we can't currently change it. Right?" O'Neill asked.

"Well, I suppose you could put it that way," Sam admitted.

"Awesome. I _so_ hoped I had gotten it wrong." He shook his head. "Okay. We need food and shelter, so we can't stay here. Any suggestions?"

"I don't sense the chaapa'ai. If I understand correctly, the distance to Stargate Command from here is small enough that I should be able to sense it," Martouf said.

Jacob nodded. "You're right. It's near the upper limit, but we should be able to detect it. Since we're not, it's probably not there."

"Okay. Other ideas?" O'Neill asked.

"Assuming the Goa'uld were once here in this timeline as well, we should walk south," Jacob suggested. "We might find some of their technology left behind in Mexico, at least."

"Oy! Mexico! Do you realize how _far_ we will have to walk?" O'Neill exclaimed. "We don't even know if the Goa'uld were ever here!"

"No, but assuming the planet is populated at all, there should be a better chance of meeting someone that can help us if we walk south - and eventually it will be winter. It will be harder to survive if we walk north," Sam said.

"Talking about surviving. What about food?" Daniel said. "I'm pretty hungry, and I'm guessing we all are. None of us have eaten for _days_ now!"

"I have. I was given food a few hours before I freed you," Teal'c told him.

"Thanks, Teal'c. Good to know," Daniel groaned. "Couldn't you have brought _us_ some?"

"Regrettably, I did not have the opportunity to do so."

"Never mind, Teal'c. We'll find something. We've got that knife of yours. It must be possible to make some sort of trap and catch a rabbit, or maybe a bird," O'Neill decided.

* * *

Working together, they had made snares and caught two large rabbits. They had also managed to gather enough dry materials and firewood to be able to make a campfire on a sandy patch on the beach of the Potomac river.

"We should try to catch some fish as well," O'Neill suggested, while Martouf and Teal'c were preparing the rabbits. "Do you think we could make a net out of the rabbit's skin?"

"Certainly, but it will not be large." Martouf smiled at him. "Sorry. I believe it would be better to make a net out of sinuous grasses of some kind. Lantash's first host knew how to make such a net, and Lantash has his knowledge."

"Then, by all means. Go fetch some 'sinuous' grasses and weave us a net," O'Neill said, sitting down on a rock near the fire.

"I will do so as soon as I finish this." Martouf added the herbs they had found to small pockets he had cut into the rabbit, then wrapped it in clay and placed it in the fireplace. This way it would cook without getting burnt, and hopefully be less dry than if it was spit-roasted.

Teal'c had done the same to the rabbit he was preparing, and then set to light the fire.

"It'll be dark soon. You shouldn't walk too far away," Sam said, when Martouf had cleaned his hands in the river and was about to leave.

"I will not. I saw some grass nearby that I believe can be used."

"We should probably see if we can find some more hay," Sam said. "It's a little chilly already, and we don't have any blankets. Daniel, dad - will you help me?"

"Follow your own advice and don't stray far!" O'Neill warned. "I heard a wolf howl earlier."

"It was far away. We are quite safe," Teal'c told him, then crouched down to watch the fire.

* * *

They had been walking south for about a week, and were now around the lower part of North Carolina, following the coast as much as they could.

"It doesn't make any sense that we haven't met any people," Daniel said. "It doesn't even look as if this land was _ever_ inhabited."

"It _is_ a bit strange, I agree," Sam said. "Dad, Martouf, the Goa'uld were never in North America, were they?"

"Mexico was the furthest north, at least for most of them. But this is millennia after the last of them left Earth. Well, except for Seth, and Hathor and others like them," Jacob said.

"The timeline is not the one we know. Is it not possible that the Goa'uld were never here?" Martouf said. "Or even that they are _still_ here."

"Sure, both are possible." Sam sighed. "And either case could have affected which areas of Earth are populated."

"It's pointless to discuss it when you don't know _anything_ about it," O'Neill grumbled.

"Well, we probably got another 2500 miles to go before we hit an area where we're likely to find any left-over Goa'uld technology," Jacob said. "We can just as well discuss _that_ as anything else."


	14. Chapter 14

A couple days later, they were walking along a path near the ocean, in an area where the forest stretched almost to the beach. Some distance on the coast curved sharply, but they could not see further ahead, since a high cliff hid their view.

As they came nearer, they realized that what they had taken for low clouds - it was an overcast day - was really smoke.

"Look! There must be someone living there!" Daniel exclaimed.

"With our luck it's probably just a small forest fire;" O'Neill observed, sarcastically.

"It is not. Those prints were made by a human," Teal'c said, pointing at the sand a little to the left of where they were walking.

"You are correct," Martouf said. "A small human with no shoes on."

"A barefoot kid," O'Neill translated. "So where is it - and its parents?"

"The child walked by here less than three hours ago," Teal'c told them.

"Okay, I guess there must be someone living nearby. Let's go check it out!" O'Neill decided.

They had not gone much further before Teal'c held up his hand for them to stop. "Something is not as it should be."

"I agree," Martouf said. "There is too much smoke - and none of the normal sounds which we should be able to hear at this distance from a village, even if it is small."

Very carefully, they rounded the edge of the cliff and now there was indeed a village straight ahead. Or rather, what was left of a village.

"Death gliders," Teal'c observed. "No more than a few hours ago. At most."

"Do you think the death gliders might come back?" O'Neill asked.

"No. There is clearly no one left alive," Teal'c said.

"Jaffa?" O'Neill wondered. "Could they show up?"

"This place was already raided and any survivors taken. See? These tracks are from Jaffa boots." Martouf pointed.

"I agree. The Jaffa were leading a group of people ahead of them, people who wore different footwear - or none at all," Teal'c said.

"The villagers were taken prisoners," O'Neill concluded.

"Yes - and most likely enslaved," Jacob added.

A few fires were still burning here and there, but the village was mostly gone. Dead people were lying here and there.

SG-1 and the Tok'ra walked around the place in silence, looking at the proof of the horrible attack.

"Why would anyone do something like this? Who would do it?" Daniel wondered, shocked. "These people look as if they had very little. There was nothing to take!"

"Retribution against some real or imagined slight," Jacob suggested. "Perhaps two Goa'uld feuding over the domain."

"Here, on Earth?" O'Neill asked.

Jacob nodded. "We don't know how different it is to the one we know, but from what we've seen..."

"It's pretty different all right," O'Neill agreed, unhappily.

Finding no one alive, and little that was not destroyed by the bombardment, they left. It was not safe to stay for long. If the place was contested, the original owner might return with force.

* * *

They had passed two more villages which had been bombed as well, and here and there were other clear signs of habitation and of agriculture. They had not found anyone alive yet, though.

"Isn't this unusual?" Sam asked, checking on the fish she was cooking above the campfire. "I mean, the Goa'uld bombing several villages and killing everyone."

"Yeah, I thought they needed them to do the work. What's a god without slaves?" Daniel said.

Martouf nodded slowly, turning the sticks to avoid the bread on them burning. "It is true that the Goa'uld rarely kill everyone in an area, or on a planet, but it does happen, mainly as part of a campaign against a neighboring Goa'uld. That may be the case here. In addition, it does look as if some slaves have been taken, particularly children and young adults."

"Those that can most easily be taught allegiance to a new master," Teal'c observed.

"Exactly," Martouf said, removing one of the stick breads and evaluating it for doneness. Flour was one of the things they had found leftover in one of the villages, and they were enjoying being able to make bread.

"There's another difference here. We're on Earth," Jacob pointed out. "Even in this timeline there's probably many many more people than on other planets. The Goa'uld can afford to be less... careful about their slaves."

O'Neill sighed, putting on a threadbare shirt they had found among the ruins, before checking if his jacket was dry. He had slipped and fallen into the water earlier, while catching the fish. "Because they can easily get more. Right." Pushing the unhappy thoughts aside, he looked hungrily at the fish and bread that were cooking on sticks over the campfire. "Isn't any of the food ready yet?"

"This is mostly done," Martouf said, holding the bread out to him.

"I'll take 'mostly done'. I'm starving!" O'Neill exclaimed.

"This probably means the Goa'uld are still on Earth, don't you think? Or are they just coming here for slaves?" Sam asked, thoughtfully. "Maybe Egeria didn't succeed in stopping them from doing so in this timeline."

"Or maybe there just was never an uprising," Daniel suggested.

Jacob nodded. "That is most likely the reason. Even if the Goa'uld had come here more often to take slaves, it wouldn't have affected the planet to the point of there only being villages in North America."

"And the people in them doesn't seem to have technology above the level of the middle ages," Daniel said.

"Great!" O'Neill scrubbed his hand over his face. "So the Stargate is probably still in Egypt. And good old Ra is still in control of it."

* * *

"Wake up!" Teal'c shouted. "We are under attack. Death gliders!"

The others had all been asleep around the campfire, but now jumped up, immediately alert.

"Damn it!" O'Neill exclaimed. "They must have seen the fire!"

"Get into the forest! Hide!" Jacob called to the others.

Grabbing what they could of their things, they scrambled for the treeline and made it just as one of the death gliders fired a shot from its staff cannons, hitting the remnants of the campfire.

"We haven't seen any death gliders for days - and no villages either," O'Neill grumbled, when they were hiding in the dark, relative safety of the forest, listening to the explosions.

"Probably there is some habitation close by and these gliders were on their way there," Jacob mused.

"It was irresponsible of us to keep a fire during night time," Lantash said.

"It's still chilly at night out here by the ocean, and we hadn't seen any signs of bad guys for days. Who could have known this would happen?" O'Neill grumbled. He sighed. "But you're right. It was."

"We know you are in there! Surrender at once, or we will burn the forest!" a strong voice shouted to them.

"Some of the Jaffa are on the ground," Teal'c observed.

"And closer than expected," Jacob added.

"Thank you, I know!" O'Neill mumbled. "Let's get further inland."

* * *

"Why are they so persistent?" Daniel wondered, when they again had to change direction to avoid their Jaffa pursuers.

"I agree. It is unusual," Teal'c said.

"Naquadah!" Martouf observed. "Somewhere ahead of us."

Jacob nodded curtly. "I agree. It's a pretty strong signature."

"The Stargate?" O'Neill wondered.

"No." Jacob shook his head. "Something else."

They ran on ahead, having little option with the Jaffa following them.

"Watch out!" Sam exclaimed. "There's a ..." She stumbled through the low undergrowth, unable to stop, slipping and tumbling down the slope.

Behind her the others were sliding or rolling after her, coming to a stop at the bottom, against a wall.

"Augh, my arm!" O'Neill exclaimed. "And my back!" He let out a moan. "Guys! How are you?"

"I am fine. Mostly," Martouf observed, wincing a little when he stretched. "Possibly a cracked rib. No, according to Lantash, that is definitely a cracked rib."

"I will be well," Teal'c said, making it unclear if he was injured or not - and how much.

"Carter? Daniel? Jacob?" O'Neill called.

"Here," Sam answered, letting out a groan when she moved. "Dad? Daniel?"

"What is this?" Daniel wondered. He looked up at the high wall, the half-full moon throwing a ghostly light on the area when it suddenly appeared from behind the clouds. "It looks like the wall is going around some sort of compound."

"Dad!" Sam exclaimed when she noticed him lying nearby, not moving.

They all froze as they heard the sound of several staff weapons activating. It was followed by the flash of a Goa'uld stun grenade, and then all became black.


	15. Chapter 15

"Has'shaks! You are now prisoners of our Lord Bastet. Your punishment will be grave!" a Jaffa told them when they were waking up onboard some sort of transport vessel.

"Bastet?" Sam mumbled, confused.

"Punishment? For what?" O'Neill said. "We haven't done anything!"

"You have trespassed on Lord Bastet's territory, and snuck around outside her weapon's research facility!" another Jaffa said, angrily. "And you dare claim innocence!"

"Listen, we didn't know about that research facility," Daniel said, looking around the room which was only marginally better lighted than it was outside.

The nearest of the Jaffa, who seemed to be the one in control, snorted. "Of course not. Liars! You are obviously saboteurs!"

"Saboteurs!?" O'Neill exclaimed. "Are you crazy? We are..."

The Jaffa shook his head in disgust. "Liars and blasphemers!"

The Jaffa left, shutting and locking the door after them.

"This just keeps getting better and better," O'Neill mumbled, trying to find a way to sit that did not hurt. "How are you guys doing?"

"It feels like we were thrown in here pretty ungently - wherever here is. I guess I should be happy I weren't conscious for it," Daniel complained, wincing as he sat up.

"I'm more or less okay," Sam said. "Whoa! As long as I don't move my head too fast, tha tis. I suspect I got a mild concussion."

"I am unharmed, except for minor bruises. It is inconsequential," Teal'c said.

Martouf was only half-awake, but now took a deep breath, clearing his head. "I've got a cracked rib, which Lantash is healing. Aside from some bumps and bruises, I am otherwise fine."

"Dad?" Sam asked.

Jacob let out a low moan. "Not so good, I'm afraid. Concussion, broken leg, and a broken rib. Apparently the rib scratched my right lung a bit, but Selmak is on it. She'll get it fixed."

"Oh, my God, dad!" Sam exclaimed, ignoring the pain and dizziness from her concussion and crawling to his side.

Jacob gave her a weak smile. "Relax, Sammy. I told you, Selmak will take care of me."

* * *

The transport vessel landed after perhaps half an hour's flight.

"I wonder where we are?" Daniel mused.

"Near a chaapa'ai," Martouf told him. "I can sense it."

"Okay, perhaps you guys should try and pretend to be Goa'uld. We've got nothing to lose, right?" O'Neill suggested.

"I was thinking the same," Martouf said. "Jacob, Teal'c, and myself will heal fairly quickly, but the rest of you at the very least require much time to rest, and possibly medical care. Our only chances are either escape or to divert Bastet's attention."

"I'm afraid I don't think the majority of us are up for escaping, but I'd try it if there was a way. What do you think?" O'Neill asked.

Martouf considered it. "In our timeline, Bastet was an ally of Ra's. She can be treacherous, but then most Goa'uld can. She is not the worst, but she is by no means to be underestimated. She is also very dedicated to security."

"Meaning you don't think we'll find a hole we can crawl through to escape this place," O'Neill concluded.

Martouf shook his head. "No." He looked to Teal'c. "Bastet is an enemy of Apophis."

O'Neill tore a piece of cloth from his shirt and threw it at Teal'c. "Wake up!"

Teal'c opened his eyes. He had been deep in kel'no'reem. "O'Neill?"

"Put that around your head. We can't have anyone see that tattoo of yours. We'll just have to hope it was too dark when we were caught for the Jaffa to see it."

"Understood. It was unfortunate it was an enemy of Apophis who owned the land we came to."

"But not unexpected, if Ra is still the master of this world. Which I suppose he may or may not be," Martouf said. "Most likely is."

"He wouldn't let his enemies live on the planet with him. Right," Daniel said. "That makes sense."

"Someone is coming," Martouf warned. He closed his eyes and dipped his head, giving Lantash control.

He rose and stretched, relieved he had almost finished healing the cracked rib. When the door opened he flashed his eyes at the Jaffa standing outside. "How dare you fire a stun grenade at me, capture me, and lock me up in here with my human slaves? Not only that, but you were flying so badly that Lord Selmak has been hampered in his healing!"

The Jaffa outside all stared at him in shock, and after a few moments the one who had opened the door bowed deeply. "I apologize, my Lord. We did not know. It was dark, you did not speak up, and you were dressed like..."

"I will not listen to your excuses!" Lantash exclaimed. "I was still stunned from your grenade and the ungentle treatment of your brutish minions! My vessel was damaged through treason and incompetence, and we landed in that forsaken part of the world! I had to walk! I insist you take me to your Lord Bastet so I can get compensation for your insolence at least!"

"My Lord, you were - no doubt through no error of your own - trespassing on Lord Bastet's domain. We did not know that..."

The Jaffa was pushed aside by his commander. "I apologize for his lack of manners and intelligence. We will take you, Lord Selmak, and your slaves to Lord Bastet immediately."

"Good. See that my slaves are given food and medical treatment. They are both loyal and hardworking, and I do not wish to have to train replacements so soon. Sadly it is a rare combination." He walked past the Jaffa with an arrogant expression, ignoring anything further from them.

* * *

"I still don't understand that Lantash's bold strategy worked." Sam shook her head in disbelief.

"We do not yet know that it did," Teal'c observed, putting down the plate after emptying it of food.

"I hope it did. Otherwise Dad and Martouf are going to be in a very bad spot," Sam said, worriedly. "And so are we, very quickly."

"True, but at least we got food. We won't die with an empty stomach," O'Neill said, scraping his bowl to get the last of the porridge. "As plain and tasteless as it is." He moved his arm gently. "And they bandaged our wounds and gave us some sort of herbal medicine. Tasted horribly, but it helped against the pain."

"I wish they'd put us in the sarcophagus instead, but I guess they don't use that for mere slaves," Daniel remarked.

"Not unless they need to revive us after torture," Sam observed with a wry grin.

"Don't say something like that!" Daniel said.

"Sorry." Sam emptied her cup and sighed deeply. She had a bad bump on her head, and she still got dizzy if she moved too quickly. The medicine had been quite effective, though. "I wonder what was in that drug they gave us."

"I'm betting some of it was made from willow bark. It was used against pain and inflammation already in ancient Egypt," Daniel said.

Sam nodded. "Makes sense."

"We should plan for the likely eventuality that Bastet will see through Lantash's story and decide we're all scum to be eradicated. Hell, even if she believes he's a Goa'uld and not a Tok'ra, she could still decide we were up to something suspicious since we were apparently walking around near her weapon's research lab," O'Neill said.

"Yeah..." Sam looked thoughtful. "It's weird she has it here on Earth, isn't it? I wonder if she's planning to move against Ra."

"Ra is the Supreme System Lord - unless that's different here. Do you really think she'd risk working on something here, on Earth?" Daniel asked.

"Maybe Ra isn't living here. Maybe Bastet is his vassal and in charge?" O'Neill suggested.

"Possible. She probably isn't the only one then, since we passed those bombed villages," Sam said.

"Could Bastet not be doing research for Ra?" Teal'c said.

"Hiding it out in the middle of nowhere like that? I doubt that," Sam said. "Though, I guess it could be something he doesn't want his other vassals to know of."

"Quiet! Someone is coming!" Teal'c warned them.

Moments later, the door opened.


	16. Chapter 16

"Hello," Lantash said, stepping inside and closing the door after him.

"Martouf... _Lantash_. Is everything all right? What about my Dad?" Sam asked.

"I believe all is well. Bastet was... displeased and suspicious, but I think I managed to assuage her fears. Jacob has been healed in a sarcophagus, much to his and Selmak's displeasure."

"I'm just glad to hear they're okay," Sam said, relieved. "Nice clothes, by the way."

"A bit flashy, if you ask me," O'Neill added, grinning.

Lantash raised an eyebrow, an amused expression on his face. "I acturally agree. It is not a style I would have chosen, however, as Bastet's newest underling I am hardly in a position to complain."

"Say _what_?" O'Neill exclaimed.

"I managed to convince Bastet that the reason we were in her domain was that we were hoping to be allowed to serve her. I also suggested that her neighbor - and rival, it fortunately turned out - was the one to destroy our vessel." He smiled. "It is fortunate that most Goa'uld have a rather inflated sense of their own worth, so it was not so hard to convince her of our wish to become her underlings."

O'Neill snorted. "All right, I can see how this would be to our advantage."

"She didn't suspect you of being Tok'ra?" Sam asked.

Lantash shook his head. "She did not accuse me of that, no, but it is not generally something that would - as Jacob puts it - be mentioned in polite society. Suggestion someone is a Tok'ra is a grave insult indeed, and if I was _not_ Tok'ra, I would be expected to become angry and deeply insulted."

"So, what about us?" Daniel asked.

"You will have to pretend to be my slaves." He frowned, looking at Teal'c. "We must find some way to conceal or modify your _hesit_ \- your forehead symbol. Apophis is _not_ popular here, and you cannot wear a piece of cloth bound around your head all the time."

O'Neill looked at Teal'c, getting a worried expression. "No, you're right. I guess we can pretend he was badly injured and so let him stay in here, for now. We need to come up with something soon, though."

Lantash considered it. "Agreed, for now. I will find something to conceal the symbol with."

"Did you find out anything about the timeline? The planet belongs to Ra, or what?" Daniel wondered.

"Yes, it does. He doesn't live here most of the time, but he has assigned four vassals to look after it. Bastet and three others. It would seem they are fairly antagonistic towards each other, which may be the intention. They will not decide to work together against Ra."

"Who are the other three? Anyone we've met?" O'Neill asked.

"I do not know. I couldn't exactly _ask_ her. This would definitely be common knowledge, particularly since I had claimed to have come here to serve her," Lantash explained.

"Right." O'Neill looked into the pot their food had been brought in, then leaned back, sighing, when he saw it was empty. "So, what are we supposed to do? As your 'servants'."

"Slaves is probably a more correct description," Lantash said, an amused look on his face.

O'Neill rolled his eyes. "Very funny."

"I'm guessing we serve food, make sure your clothes are clean and ready, and so on," Sam said.

Lantash nodded. "Yes, but for now, you will do nothing but relax here in these quarters. I am a merciful master and wish you all to rest until you have healed." He sighed. "Meanwhile, I shall see what I can learn about this timeline." He left the room.

* * *

"I believe that should be an acceptable solution, as long as no one examines it very closely," Lantash said, putting a finishing layer on top of the new mark on Teal'c's forehead. "The protective layer on top should preserve both the material I used to hide your real symbol, and the paint I made the fake one with. As long as you don't rub it too hard."

Sam held a mirror up before Teal'c, who studied himself in it. "That is acceptable. Thank you."

"Who uses that?" O'Neill asked. "The symbol I mean. Which Goa'uld uses it?"

"I do. I made it up." He made a crooked grin. "It's a combination of Egeria's symbol and Jolinar's. I have convinced Bastet I'm young 'upstart', as Jacob says. I said I had tried to gain a domain and my own Jaffa for a couple years, eventually allying with another minor Goa'uld - Selmak. We told her that we had recently decided that it was not working and that we were in need of a stronger ally, like her. Bastet believed us."

"Heh, that's great." O'Neill grinned.

They all froze when someone suddenly knocked on the door.

"Enter," Lantash said, carefully putting his face in a neutral, but arrogant, expression.

The door opened and Jacob|Selmak came in.

"Dad!" Sam smiled. "Are you okay?"

Selmak shut the door and dipped her head, giving Jacob control.

He went to Sam and embraced her warmly. "I'm fine - despite the damn sarcophagus. Selmak hates it, and I agree with her. Your body feels... wrong, somehow." He shook his head. "Strong, powerful - and wrong. Fortunately it goes away after a while."

Daniel smiled, embarrassed. "I know exactly what you mean. It gets addictive really fast - and then the power feels good."

"I am not going to take that risk," Jacob said. He smiled at Sam. "I better let Selmak get back in control while we're here with Bastet." He bowed his head and transferred control.

"Where are we? I looked out the window, and my guess is southern Europe or maybe North Africa?" O'Neill suggested.

"I was thinking the same. It's very green around here, but dusty further out," Daniel said.

"We're in Egypt," Lantash said. "From what I can tell, Ra's four vassals each have part of Egypt in their domain, and they have their capital there. In addition, they rule one quarter of the world each."

"Bastet has her bases in North America, I'm guessing?" O'Neill said.

"North and South America. She has a couple palaces and also some laboratories there - as we have found out," Selmak explained. "We are currently in her capital, which is located somewhat to the East of Bubastis."

"Bastet's main place of worship in ancient Egypt," Daniel observed. "Makes sense."

Lantash nodded. "The other three vassals are Atum, Moloc, and Ba'al. All are fairly minor System Lords in our timeline, and Ba'al has not always been Ra's ally."

"Well, Ba'al has started to become more powerful in our timeline - after you were killed," Selmak explained. She grimaced. "I do not like thinking of your death."

"I assure you, neither do I, but fortunately Martouf and I are fine," Lantash said.

"Do you have a plan how to escape?" O'Neill asked. "Or are we just going for charging the device and changing the hell out of this timeline?"

Lantash smiled. "Yes, we will get hold of a weapon and then recharge the device. It may not be as easy as procuring a weapon as you would think. It will be awhile before Bastet trusts us, so we must be stealthy."

"Yeah, well, that's your thing, isn't it? Being stealthy, I mean." O'Neill smiled.


	17. Chapter 17

"Here," Lantash said, holding out a zat'nik'tel. "Make _very_ sure it is not found by Bastet's Jaffa."

"Thanks," Sam said. "We'll get started charging the Furling device."

"No offence, but wouldn't it be better to use a staff weapon? Didn't it take like forever to charge it with a zat, last time you did that?" O'Neill asked.

"Very true," Lantash admitted. "However, I cannot sneak away with a staff weapon."

"Maybe we could use something else," Sam said. "After all, shooting the thing can't have been the original way to charge it."

Lantash nodded. "I had thought the same, but I don't think we have access to anything else that could potentially be used. Unless we could somehow charge it from the engines of a ship."

"That ought to be fast!" O'Neill exclaimed. "I like the idea!"

"Perhaps the transport vessel we were on earlier?" Teal'c suggested.

Lantash shook his head. "No, from what I can tell, it is only here when they use it to deliver cargo, slaves, or prisoners from Bastet's domains on the other side of the ocean. North and South America." He sighed. "I am not yet trusted to walk freely around, nor is Selmak. Bastet has three more underlings, all whom are very suspicious of us - or more likely angry that they now have rivals and are less likely to advance in rank."

"Okay, we'll get started with the zat," Sam said.

"One more thing; it has been two days since we arrived. Bastet feels that you ought to be sufficiently rested and that you should begin working tomorrow," Lantash told them, apologetically.

"How is that any of her business? We're your slaves, aren't we?" O'Neill shook his head. "That sounded weird."

Lantash smiled wryly. "Very true. However, I am now her underling, and as she is thus my master, she is also the master of everyone and everything I own. I will make sure to find some sort of work for you which will not strain you or hamper your healing."

"You do that," O'Neill said.

"What about Dad?" Sam asked.

"Bastet has taken a liking to him and given him a position as her personal procurer." Lantash grinned. "He is now in charge of getting her any sort of delicacy, clothing, art, sculptures - as well as, ah, personal slaves."

"Oh, God. He hates shopping!" Sam laughed.

"A sentiment he shares with Selmak. They were both less than pleased," Lantash said, an amused expression on his face.

* * *

"We have to get out of here! We're being attacked!" Lantash warned, running into the room where the members of SG-1 were working.

"What?" O'Neill asked, jumping up from his chair. "Who?"

"Ba'al. Come on! Jacob is waiting for us!"

"Damn! The cube! It's back in your chamber!" O'Neill said. "We can't leave it behind!"

"I will get it. Go to the lower ring transporter room. _Hurry_!" Lantash told them, before running off to get the Furling device.

* * *

The alarm had sounded moments after Lantash had warned them, and they had not run far before the palace was in chaos around them.

"Two levels down, right?" O'Neill asked.

"That is correct," Teal'c agreed.

Making their way past servants running around in a panic, they raced down two flights of stairs, finding themselves on the lowest level, except for the basement.

They were stopped by two Jaffa guards who stood on each side of the corridor leading to the ring room.

"What are you doing here? Get back upstairs!" one of them ordered, angrily.

"We were ordered here by our Lord," Teal'c said.

"Your Lord is an underling of Bastet. _She_ has ordered that no one is allowed on this floor without her permission. You _will_ leave now or suffer the consequences."

Lantash came running down the stairs at that moment. He angrily flashed his eyes at the Jaffa. "Does this order also include me?"

Both Jaffa made a slight bow. "No, my Lord. Of course not."

"Good." He pulled out a zat'nik'tel from under his wide cape and shot both Jaffa.

They froze and slowly began to fall. Lantash quickly shot them two more times each, vaporizing them. They could not risk the Jaffa being found - or worse, waking up and telling someone that Lantash had shot them.

SG-1 and Lantash hurried on towards the ring transportation room, hoping there would be no more guards to stop them.

* * *

"What took you so long!" Jacob complained when he saw them rush into the room.

"Good to see you too, Dad!" Sam said.

"Where are we going?" O'Neill asked.

"Bastet's Ha'tak is in orbit. We're going up there." Jacob pointed at the rings in the floor.

"Whoa! I thought we wanted to get _away_ from the snakeheads?" O'Neill exclaimed.

"The place is surrounded. It's Ba'al or Bastet," Jacob told him.

"So we're caught between a rock and a hard place. Wonderful. Typical," O'Neill grumbled. "What about the cube? Could we fire it up and get out of here?"

"With the charging we've managed until now? No, it's not enough to do much of anything," Sam said. "Sorry, sir."

"Okay. Damn. By the way, what's with all the large crates?" O'Neill looked around the room.

"Someone is coming!" Lantash warned, interrupting them. "This way!"

They quickly followed him into the alcove at the end of the room. A curtain hung across the entrance and protected them from being seen from the ring room, but they would have to be very quiet.

There were some seats along the wall, and two small figurines in the back, but otherwise the alcove was empty. It was meant for those of more importance waiting to be transported aboard a ship. The main transportation room was upstairs, this was the secondary one, mainly used for cargo. However, now and then, when Bastet had large celebrations or receptions, the extra room was needed to transport important Goa'uld, so they would not have to wait in line for too long.

SG-1 and the Tok'ra kept as silent as possible, barely daring to breathe, when the familiar sound of heavy boots was heard in the room outside. _Jaffa_.

The voice of a Goa'uld was heard, "Transport all the boxes aboard the ship - _quickly_! If as much as _one_ of them falls into the hands of Ba'al, you and your entire family shall suffer greatly!"

O'Neill carefully peeked outside and saw a man in gaudy clothes, a hand device on his left hand, and with a very self-important look on his face. That was obviously the Goa'uld who had just spoken. O'Neill looked at Lantash who was also taking a quick glance.

"Maahes," Lantash whispered, then rolled his eyes at O'Neill's expression. It was obvious he did not understand what was meant. "The _name_ of the Goa'uld is Maahes."

O'Neill nodded. "Ah."

Maahes went to stand in the center of the ring transporter. "Activate!" he ordered, and the rings almost immediately sprang up around him.

As soon as he had transported up to the ship, the Jaffa started carrying the large cases to the ring transporter and sending them up a couple at a time.

Meanwhile, all members of SG-1, Jacob|Selmak, and Martouf|Lantash could do, was waiting and hoping they would not be discovered.


	18. Chapter 18

Finally, the last of the crates had been transported up to the ship, and the Jaffa left as well.

"They're gone," O'Neill said, relieved. "What do we do now? Follow them up there and hope they won't notice?"

"If we are very lucky, they will have left the cargo in the ship's ring transportation room. They will have other things to occupy their time instead of moving it somewhere else right now," Lantash said.

"Yes, and in any case, we're expected to transport up to the ship. That is, Lantash and I are," Jacob said. "I doubt Bastet will complain overly much that we bring a few slaves to look after us." He grinned.

"Right." O'Neill rolled his eyes. "Enough about slaves! Let's get up there before Ba'al arrives here!"

"What do you think was in those boxes?" Daniel wondered.

"No idea, and right now I don't care!" O'Neill said. "Let's get the hell out of here!"

"Stand in the middle of the ring transporter." Lantash went to the control panel and pushed the buttons while the others assumed their positions. "Ready!" He ran to join the others.

* * *

"Well, no one here, at least," O'Neill said, looking around the room they had arrived in. "Nothing but a _whole_ lot of those boxes."

Teal'c walked up to the door and checked outside in the corridor. "The corridor is empty as well."

"All right, so what now? Do we just stay here and ring down when the ship is above the Americas, or what?" Daniel asked.

There was a jolt through the ship, which caused the humans to stumble.

"Hyperlaunch," Teal'c said.

"Meaning we're probably _not_ going to Bastet's domains here on Earth," Sam observed.

"In that case it's an easy choice. We find a place to charge the cube, then change the crap out of this timeline!" O'Neill decided.

"It is not a good idea to do so while onboard this vessel," Lantash said.

"Why not?" O'Neill wondered.

"It is too large to be encompassed within the area affected by the Furling device, which means we would most likely find ourselves in space, with no vessel and no spacesuit. That would be regrettable," Lantash observed drily.

"Ah. Yeah, I can see why that would not be good," O'Neill said. "Okay, do you have a better idea, then?"

"Yes. We find a teltac and steal it when we get an opportunity," Lantash said.

"That is dangerous," Selmak said. "It is difficult to escape without being seen, and Bastet may send out death gliders to destroy us."

"Yes, but she is currently fleeing. She may be too preoccupied to pay attention to our whereabouts," Lantash insisted.

Selmak nodded slowly. "That has merit. Very well, we will see if there is a teltac available. For now, we should find Bastet and inform her of our presence."

"No offence, but why? We don't want her to know we're here, do we?" Daniel said.

"She will find out. Lantash and I will be expected to have fled with her instead of staying and be captured by Ba'al."

"All right, I'll buy that. What about the rest of us?" O'Neill said.

"We are entitled to some servants. She will understand that," Selmak said.

"Okay, but first I think we should take a look at what's in the boxes," O'Neill decided.

* * *

"What _is_ that?" O'Neill wondered. "Looks like a... a missile of some sort, maybe?"

"There are anti-gravity devices on the boxes, so whatever is in them is heavy," Lantash observed. "Also, they contain naquadah, which is probably what makes them heavy."

"Weapon's grade?" Sam asked.

Lantash shook his head. "No, it is quite crude."

"I believe the only purpose of the naquadah is to make the missiles heavy," Selmak said. "They are inert projectiles, so I believe they are meant for kinetic bombardment."

"Kinetic bombardment?" Daniel wondered. "What's that?"

"It's where you attack a planet's surface with projectiles that has no explosive yield. The destructive force comes from the kinetic energy of the projectile impacting at a very high velocity. The heavier the projectiles or rods are, the more effective," Sam said. "They're theoretical."

"Not among the Goa'uld. It's not a common weapon, but I have seen it used," Selmak said.

"These projectiles are not just inert rods, though," Lantash said, studying them closer. "I believe they can be opened." He pointed at a seam that ran along the side of one of the projectiles.

"I wonder what's inside?" O'Neill tried lifting it, but failed. "Whoa! It's heavy!"

"Even low-grade naquadah is extremely heavy," Lantash reminded him. He felt along the projectile, finding a small indentation which he pressed. It opened along the almost-hidden seam.

Inside was a transparent container with a blue liquid.

"Okay, that can't be good," O'Neill said.

"It is most likely poison of some kind," Teal'c suggested.

Selmak nodded. "I agree. It is likely to become a poisonous gas that is spread upon impact, maximizing the death toll of the planet that is the victim of an attack by these."

O'Neill grimaced. "Nasty. Close it back up, will you, Lantash?"

He nodded and did as asked.

"That's probably what Bastet had her scientists working on in the lab we stumbled on, don't you think?" Daniel said.

"Very likely," Selmak agreed.

"Yes. That is almost certainly what the transport vessel was bringing in," Lantash said. He closed the crate. "We should leave before we are discovered."

* * *

They had not gotten far before running into a group of Jaffa.

"Jaffa, kree!" Selmak exclaimed, deciding she needed to act before the Jaffa tried to arrest them. "You will take me to Lord Bastet _immediately_!"

"Yes, we _demand_ an explanation! Why were we not informed of the attack? We almost got left behind!" Lantash said angrily. He turned to the members of SG-1. "Go find some suitable chambers for me - and some for Lord Selmak."

"Yes, my Lord, at once," Teal'c said, inclining his head.

Sam and Daniel bowed deeply, and after a moment O'Neill bowed as well. Then they left to carry out their 'order'.

* * *

"I wonder how long we'll have to wait," O'Neill grumbled, throwing himself on the bed.

"Sir, I don't think it's a good idea to do that. It's supposed to be for 'our Lord'," Sam reminded him.

"I doubt Lantash will care enough to complain."

"No, but what if someone else but him or Jacob comes here? I mean, Jaffa, or other servants," Sam said.

"Then I'll get up," O'Neill said, not moving from the bed.

Sam shrugged and went to pick up the Furling device and study it.

"Do you think Bastet will accept that Lantash and Selmak brought us onboard?" Daniel asked, worried.

"I am certain she will. No Goa'uld will accept being without even a few slaves to take care of them," Teal'c said.

"It's too bad we don't have the zat. I hope Lantash brings it back here so we can continue charging the device," Sam said. "It has got barely enough energy to just turn on."

"Forget about the zat. There ought to be a teltac somewhere we can use to charge it, like Lantash said. We just need an excuse to wander off and find it," O'Neill said, sitting up. "I'm hungry. Do you think there's a kitchen somewhere that will give us some food?" He got up and started towards the door.

"We were told to stay here, Jack," Daniel told him.

"I'm starving!" O'Neill complained. "I'll be back in a moment." He opened the door and looked outside. When he saw no one, he snuck out.


	19. Chapter 19

"I really hope Jack is coming back soon," Daniel said, worried. "What if he's been captured?"

He had barely spoken the words, before the door opened and O'Neill was pushed inside by a Jaffa.

"Stay there, human, or you _will_ regret it!" the Jaffa told him and shut the door after him.

"Jack! What happened?" Daniel asked.

"I found the kitchen." O'Neill grinned, taking half a bread, some dried meat, and a bottle with some kind of liquid from inside the bag he was holding. "I _also_ took a peek at the flight deck. There's _two_ teltacs. I'm sure they won't mind letting us borrow one of them."

"Where there no guards?" Teal'c asked, surprised.

"Well, I'm not sure. There were Jaffa running around everywhere, preparing the deathgliders, I think. They didn't really pay any attention to me, so that was good at least."

"That's _not_ a good sign, is it?" Sam said, pulling at her skirt, which she found to be too short. "Them getting the deathgliders ready, I mean."

"It is not," Teal'c said. "They are clearly preparing for battle."

The door opened and Jacob|Selmak entered.

"Dad!" Sam exclaimed, then corrected herself. "Selmak. What's going on?"

Selmak closed the door. "Ba'al and Bastet are at war. Ba'al attacked Bastet's domains in the Americas, accusing her of hiding laboratories there where she is creating weapons of mass destruction with which to attack him - and the other vassals, even Ra. Or so Ba'al claims."

"Well, we know she has those labs, and we found the nasty weapons in the ring room, so he isn't completely wrong," O'Neill observed.

"Bastet is furious. He has not only accused her personally, but publicly. The other vassals are siding with him, most likely in the hopes of getting Bastet's territories," Selmak explained.

"So she's on the run?" Daniel asked.

Selmak shook her head. "No, not quite. She is going to bombard Ba'al's homeworld, killing as large a number of his Jaffa as possible. We are meeting up with seven more of her ha'taks, and a couple alkesh, but I believe Ba'al is on his way back to his homeworld, and from what we could find out, he may be able to get about as many ships there as Bastet brings."

"It will be a hell of a bloody battle," O'Neill realized.

"And we will be in the middle of it," Sam added. "Great." She pulled at her skirt again, then gave up. Goa'uld clearly liked dressing their slaves in about as much clothing as they wore themselves. Her only consolation was that they were _all_ wearing ridiculous clothing. At least that meant they did not stand out from the rest of the servants on the ship.

* * *

It was only hours later when it suddenly felt as if something hit the ship hard. The light flickered and they dropped out of hyperspace. An alarm sounded almost immediately.

"I wonder what _that_ was!" O'Neill said. "It felt almost like an explosion of some kind."

"Sabotage?" Sam wondered.

"Or else the engines just chose a really bad time to break down," Daniel suggested.

"One of Bastet's underlings may have decided Ba'al has a better chance of winning and decided to change allegiance," Teal'c said. "Sabotage is by far the most likely explanation."

"How do we escape, then? If Ba'al's ship is out there it's not likely we can sneak by in a teltac," Daniel said.

"Well, there's no time like the present. If we flee _now_ , Bastet won't have time to look for us, and if Ba'al shows up he'll probably go after her instead of us. Come on, guys!" O'Neill said.

"Wait, what about my Dad and Martouf?" Sam said.

"We'll get them on the way. Couldn't one of us pretend to have a message for 'our Lord' and ask to be taken to him?" O'Neill wondered.

Sam nodded slowly. "Yes, I guess so?" She looked to Teal'c.

"Yes, though as suspicious as Bastet currently is, she may think we are involved. Certainly that Selmak or Lantash are."

"Which isn't what we want." Sam sighed.

"We'll think of something. Don't worry, we're not leaving anyone behind. Daniel, grab the cube! Come on, guys!" O'Neill had opened the door and was looking out. "People are running around looking busy. They won't have time to worry about us."

* * *

They had not walked far before an alarm sounded again, a different one this time.

"We are under attack. The alarm is notifying the Jaffa that they should go to their posts," Teal'c told them.

They jumped aside and into a niche which held a large statue, as a group of Jaffa hurried past them.

"Where would Jacob and Marty be?" O'Neill asked, looking after the armoured Jaffa.

"During an attack the Goa'uld will be at the post they are assigned to, or else on the peltak," Teal'c said.

"Dad is Bastet's 'procurer'. I have no idea what his position would be during a battle," Sam said. "I don't think she's given Lantash any position yet, so I'm guessing he's helping out with the defence?"

Teal'c nodded. "He may be on the peltak or perhaps overseeing the launch of the deathgliders. Of course, there are other parts of the defence he may have been assigned to assist with."

"In other words, you have no idea. Great," O'Neill grumbled.

At that moment the ship felt as if it shook. Then the shudder was felt again, and again. The light flickered, then stabilized.

"Another ship is shooting at us," Teal'c told them helpfully.

O'Neill nodded. "I got that. We can't stay here. Carter, find someone to ask about your Dad and Marty. Say we need to talk to our 'Lord'. I don't care what excuse you come up with. Just hurry up - and meet us outside the hangar deck."

* * *

Sam had been in luck and had run into Martouf|Lantash after only a short time of searching. He was on his way to the peltak, fortunately alone.

She looked around and hurried up to him. "Lantash! We're getting out of here on a teltac. We need you and Dad to come to the hangar deck as quickly as possible."

" _Now_? In the middle of the battle?" Lantash asked, then nodded. "If we time it correctly it may be to our advantage that they are occupied fighting each other. That is, as long as Ba'al do not think Bastet is using the teltac in an attempt to escape."

"You think it's possible?" Sam asked.

"I think it's highly dangerous, but that the alternative is worse." He sighed. "Go to your team mates. I will find Selmak and meet you - as quickly as possible."


	20. Chapter 20

Martouf|Lantash and Jacob|Selmak found SG-1 hiding in a small alcove not far from the flight deck.

"What is the status?" Selmak asked.

"All of the deathgliders have launched. There's very few people on the hangar deck," O'Neill said.

"Good, then we should be able to get to the teltac," Selmak adjusted the hand device on her hand.

Lantash did the same, and nodded. "I am ready."

They walked inside at a leisurely speed, hoping they could fool any guards into thinking they had permission to be there. That hope did not last long.

"Halt!" the nearest guard informed them, walking towards them.

"I am Lord Lantash, and this is Lord Selmak." Lantash indicated his fellow Tok'ra. "You _dare_ stop us?"

"I apologize, my Lord, but I will have to contact Bastet to get her acceptance of your presence here."

Lantash looked towards Selmak and nodded at her. She nodded back. They each raised the hand with the hand device on at the same time and sent out a powerful blast. Lantash took out the nearest guard and two more guards further in, and Selmak took out two guards that were standing on the other side.

"Five down," O'Neill said, looking at the unconscious or dead Jaffa. "Looks like no others in the room. " He looked around. "Good job, guys!"

They ran to the teltac and boarded it before any of the Jaffa had time to regain consciousness and challenge them.

Selmak had run to the fore section, and as soon as all were onboard and the door closed, she took off, pushing the remote control to open the exit gates of the hangar deck at the last moment.

"There is a fire fight going on just outside. The ride might get a little bumpy," she warned.

The teltac was grazed by fire from a death glider the second she had spoken, and everyone was thrown either out of their chair or against the nearest wall. Smoke came from somewhere in the back, and an alarm went off.

"A 'little' bumpy is an understatement!" O'Neill exclaimed. "Can't we get out of their crossfire?"

"I doubt it," Selmak said, looking with trepidation at the screen. There were several ha'taks, a couple alkesh's, and too many death gliders to count.

"Crap," O'Neill said. "Anyone got an idea, now is the time!"

"We're doomed!" Daniel groaned.

"How much did you manage to recharge the Furling device?" Lantash asked.

"Right, the bubble of change is big enough to include the hole cargo ship," Daniel mumbled to himself.

"Some. Not very much. We _can_ change the timeline, but only the tiniest bit," Sam said.

"Anything is better than this!" O'Neill exclaimed, as another shot hit dem. "Do it! Before we're toast!"

Sam nodded. "Yes, sir." She tweaked the controls on the device and activated it.

* * *

"How did it go?" O'Neill wondered, almost afraid to ask. "I've noticed the lack of any further pot shots against us."

Selmak checked the readings. The ship was sitting in space, with no other vessels nearby. "We are no longer under attack. In fact, this is the only ship in the area."

"Fantastic! Awesome!" O'Neill laughed. "We're safe!"

"For now, at least. For all we know, this version of the timeline is worse," Sam warned.

"I don't care! At least we're not being shot at right now!" O'Neill insisted. "Carter - get started on charging the cube. We don't want the timeline to stay like this for long, in case another nasty surprise shows up."

"Wait. You should know that we will not be able to enter hyperspace while the engines are being used to charge the device," Selmak said. "Perhaps it would be sensible to find a safer place before we do so."

"Isn't this in the middle of nowhere? There only reason there was a battle here was a because this is where Ba'al caught up with Bastet - because of sabotage. That's not likely to happen again here, is it?" O'Neill said.

"No," Martouf said. "However, we are almost on the border between Ba'al and Bastet - at least it was the border in the timeline before we just changed it It is not unlikely someone will notice us, and if that happens while we are unable to escape, it may be quite unfortunate."

"He is correct," Selmak said. "We cannot know if this timeline has changed enough to move the border."

"It was a pretty small change. At least I _think_ it was." Sam sighed. "I agree. We shouldn't charge the device here."

"Well, unless someone has a better idea, I suggest setting course towards Earth. If we have to hide somewhere, that's as good a place as any," O'Neill suggested.

* * *

"We are approaching Earth," Jacob said. "We should be there in half an hour. Any special place you want to go?"

"Carter, you said the timeline was almost the same as what we just experienced. That should mean the Stargate is probably in Egypt, right?" O'Neill asked.

"Yes, _probably_ ," Sam said, with some hesitation.

"All right, so let's find a place to land not too far from it - in case something happens with the teltac when you charge the thingie and it can't take off."

"I'll try to find a place to land where we can hide the teltac." Jacob said. "It doesn't have cloak."

"Well, that sucks!" O'Neill exclaimed.

"It's night down there, and no electric light outside the area around the palaces. That should help." Jacob looked at his instruments. "There is a mountainous area with an oasis a little to the southwest of where I am detecting the Stargate. I will set down the teltac there and see if we can hide it."

"Okay, do it," O'Neill decided.

* * *

"All right, I don't think anyone is going to spot it unless they are looking for it," Jacob said, looking at the well hidden cargo vessel.

"I agree," O'Neill said, cleaning off his hands on the back of his pants. "Teal'c, keep guard while Jacob and I check on Carter, Marty, and Daniel. Hopefully they've figured out how to hook up the cube to the engines by now."

Teal'c inclined his head. "Yes, O'Neill." He picked up the zat'nik'tel - their only weapon aside from the two hand devices Jacob|Selmak and Martouf|Lantash had brought from their little stint as underlings for Bastet.

"It's a completely alien device. I don't think it's strange that it takes a while to figure out how to connect it to our tech," Jacob said.

"Goa'uld tech is alien too. At least to us." O'Neill smiled. "But I get what you mean."

* * *

"Hello, sir. Hi, Dad!" Sam said, seeing them. "We've just finished connecting the device, and I think we were successful this time!"

Martouf scanned the device and the engines with a small hand-held scanner. He nodded slowly. "We were. The solution was to limit the transference of power."

"So we're good?" O'Neill asked. "How long is it going to take?"

Sam sent him an apologetic look. "The device kept draining the engines so fast that we had to disconnect it to avoid a cascade effect. We've solved that problem, meaning the recharge speed is kept under the..."

"No techno-babble, Carter! Just give me a number!"

"At least three days," Sam said, looking a little offended.

"Three _days_! Oy." O'Neill shook his head.

"There is a town not far from here, about mid-way between us and the Stargate. We could go there and see if we can find a place to stay and maybe get some food," Jacob suggested. "It's not long before the Sun rises."

O'Neill nodded, unhappily. "All right. Let's do that."


	21. Chapter 21

"It's just like travelling back to ancient Egypt!" Daniel exclaimed, excitedly. "Look at the beautifully coloured temple! And the priests, and the clothing! Except, the text is in Goa'uld, not the human adaption of it that became our hieroglyphs."

"Keep it down, Daniel!" O'Neill hissed.

"I doubt they understand me. It sounds like they're all speaking Goa'uld," Daniel defended himself. He kept looking at everything and everyone with great interest.

"Yeah - and that is only making it stranger that _we_ are speaking something else!"

"Not necessarily. There are some worlds where the population does not speak either Goa'uld or standard, but their own tongue," Selmak told them.

"Well, at least it's a good thing we're wearing _this_ instead of our BDUs," Sam observed drily, indicating the clothing they had gotten as Lantash and Selmak's servants.

"They _are_ staring at us, though," O'Neill said.

"Because you are wearing the clothing of palace-servants, and Selmak and I are dressed as minor Goa'uld, including hand devices," Lantash told them, keeping his voice down. "I am not sure it was such a good idea to go here, at least not wearing these clothes."

"Wouldn't it just make them treat us nicely?" O'Neill wondered.

"As well as make us stand out," Selmak observed. "Something which we very much do not want."

"All right, let's find a guesthouse or something. Then maybe we can solve the problem with clothing later," O'Neill said. "It's hot as hell anyway, so I wouldn't mind some shadow and something cold to drink."

" _This_? This is nothing!" Daniel told him. "We're only in May. It's going to get a _lot_ hotter. Before I joined the Stargate project I was at a dig outside..."

"Not right now, Daniel. Let's find somewhere cool before I have to listen to a long story," O'Neill insisted.

Daniel looked miffed. "Well, we walked past something that had the Goa'uld word Ah'Ast on it. That 'eatery', isn't it?"

"Yes, you are correct," Lantash said. He looked around, then lead them to a somewhat more private area where they could talk in peace. "However, it is not a word used for the type of place even a minor Goa'uld would go to eat."

"You don't want to rub shoulders with the common people, eh?" O'Neill said, grinning.

"The Goa'uld would not wish that, no," Lantash agreed. "We should look for an establishment of a higher class."

"About that, do we even have any money to pay with? Or whatever they're using here," O'Neill asked.

"We do. After I fetched the Furling device, I, ah, relieved Bastet of some valuables before meeting you," Lantash said, a smug expression on his face. "I have more than enough to pay for several rooms at a nice guesthouse, food and drink for all of us, as well as different clothing should we so decide."

"You stole from Bastet!" O'Neill grinned. "Good job!"

"Thank you." Lantash smiled. He sobered. "One thing; just like on the ship, it is important that you remember not to question any order from me or Selmak. No servant would dare do so, and the punishment would be severe."

"Got it. Just make sure you don't take advantage of it and have us run around and serve you all the time," O'Neill said.

"That _is_ the general idea with slaves," Selmak observed drily. "However, I am sure both Lantash and I will do our best not to put undue strain on any of you."

* * *

"The food was great, and I really like the fact that they brought it to our rooms!" O'Neill threw himself on one of the beds.

"It was necessary to have it brought here, or else only Selmak and myself would have been able to eat, while the rest of you would have had to wait until later - _and_ eat in the kitchen," Lantash reminded him.

"Also, that is _my_ bed," Selmak observed. "Your bed is in the other room, as are those of the rest of your team."

"You got a whole, big, fancy chamber each, and we share one measly room." O'Neill sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Someone could show up and enter before we have time to hide it if we shared the luxurious rooms."

"Are we just going to wait here until the Furling device is charged?" Daniel wondered.

"I believe that would be safest, yes," Selmak said.

An unhappy expression crossed Daniel's features. "I was hoping to be able to walk around in the town a bit, and look at it all. It is an _amazing_ opportunity to learn about a culture that has remained much as it was in ancient Egypt!"

"It's too dangerous, Daniel," O'Neill said.

"How is it dangerous? We didn't see any Jaffa or Goa'uld, right?"

"No, we did not, but we have only been in a small part of the city. It is likely that some come here from time to time, even if they do not live here," Lantash said.

"But probably only minor Goa'uld, right?" Daniel wondered.

Selmak nodded. "Yes."

"Would it be a problem if one of you went out? Then I could go with you, as your servant," Daniel suggested.

Selmak sighed and smiled a little, then dipped her head and gave Jacob control.

"If you really want to take a walk around town, then I can take you," Jacob said. "But _don't_ argue with me - or rather Selmak - when you're told not to do something."

Daniel gave him a long-suffering expression. "I don't _always_ do things like that, you know."

* * *

"We have _got_ to get out of here!" Selmak exclaimed, shutting the door when she and Daniel had entered. "It is only a matter of time before we are tracked here!"

"What did you do _now_ , Daniel?" O'Neill asked, tiredly. He got up and started looking for the few things he had brought.

Martouf|Lantash, Sam, and Teal'c hurried to fetch their things as well.

"I didn't do _anything_!" Daniel said, an insulted look on his face. He went over and picked up his bag with a few things he had picked up during the two days they had stayed there.

"He is telling the truth. It was my fault. We had just left the temple to Seth, and I was waiting in the shadow under some date palms while Daniel studied the text outside the gate."

"That's when a minor Goa'uld showed up and asked me what I was doing. I told him I'd been to the temple to worship, but unfortunately the Goa'uld had seen me in the company of Selmak," Daniel explained.

Selmak nodded. "I should have been more vigilant."

"So what? Why would he care?" O'Neill asked. He looked around at the others. "Ready to leave?"

"No Goa'uld would go to worship at another Goa'uld's temple. The same goes for their servants," Martouf said. "The reasons why they would be there are all hostile."

They hurried down the stairs and went out a back door. Finding themselves in an empty back alley, they felt somewhat safer.

"Okay, that makes sense, but how did he know Selmak wasn't the god worshipped there? Seth, or whomever it was. Did he know him?" O'Neill wondered.

"It _was_ Seth. Apparently he was not declared an outlaw and hunted by the System Lords in this version of the timeline," Selmak said, sardonically.

"Ouch." O'Neill sighed. "I really hope we don't run into him. I can do without _ever_ meeting that guy again! So, which way is the best if we want to get out of the city fast?"


	22. Chapter 22

Seth had rallied the guards of the town, and called in some of his Jaffa troops from the capital. SG-1 and the Tok'ra quickly had to realize they would not be able to sneak out of the city easily.

They were now hiding in a storage shed in the less affluent part of the city.

"We need different clothing," Martouf said. "It is too bad we did not purchase some before."

"Maybe we could, ah, 'borrow' some?" O'Neill suggested, spotting a clothes line. "We could always give them the stuff we're wearing in return."

"They would risk punishment if they were caught with the clothing of a Goa'uld Lord, or even his servants, so I doubt they would dare use it," Jacob said.

"I still have some of the jewelry I stole from Bastet. We could leave some of that," Martouf suggested.

"Okay. Let's just get this done before any guards show up," O'Neill said.

* * *

Jacob fired one more time at the pile of clothes with the zat'nik'tel. "All right, it's done."

"Great. Now give me the zat. You and Marty have your ribbon devices," O'Neill said.

"Sure, here you go." Jacob handed the weapon to him.

"It's a good thing we got these robes or whatever they are to conceal ourselves in too," Daniel said.

"Yeah, we can hide our faces somewhat, which is good since Seth knows how Daniel and I look," Jacob said.

"There's also the fact that we don't really look like the locals," O'Neill observed.

"Most just wears loincloths or thin tunicas, though, so robes like this may look out of place too," Sam reminded them.

"Sunset is in three hours. If we just stay out of sight until then, these clothes won't look as out of place. Nights can be pretty cold in deserts," Martouf said.

"Right, and we can just tell people we're travellers. Traders. That should work, right?" O'Neill said. "That's why we speak a weird language."

"It may work, but it's unfortunate to stick out in any way when they are looking for you." Jacob sighed. "I agree, we should hide until it's dark."

* * *

The sun was almost down when the door opened to the storage building SG-1 and the Tok'ra were hiding in. They ducked behind the crates that stood in the back, hoping no one would notice them.

Two men walked in and went to the sacks that stood in the corner nearest the door. Each of them picked up one sack and was about to leave the building when Daniel sneezed.

"Sorry, it's the dust," he whispered.

"Who is there?" one of the men called.

"No one!" O'Neill activated his zat'nik'tel and quickly shot both men. "Damn! We better get out of here before they wake up."

They ran outside - only to see a group of Jaffa turn the corner at the end of the alley and march towards them.

"Crap!" Jacob swore. "This way!"

They turned and ran down a side-alley. Behind them the Jaffa were shouting for them to stop, and one of them fired a warning shot with his staff weapon.

SG-1 and the Tok'ra raced down the alley, turned into another of the small passages, then another - and suddenly found themselves at a dead end.

"Maybe we lost them?" Daniel said, hopefully, when no Jaffa were immediately forthcoming.

"Not likely. Can you take them with your hand devices?" O'Neill asked.

"Possibly, but we need something to duck behind or we will all be shot before we have time to do anything," Jacob said.

Teal'c eyed the rickety wooden balcony on the building to their right. It was stabilized with several rafters that were stuck into the ground, while the top was tied to the balcony. "Help me pull this down!" He grabbed hold of two rafters and started pulling.

Martouf|Lantash and O'Neill grabbed the rafters at the other end and pulled as well. The balcony gave way almost immediately, and they quickly jumped aside to avoid being hit by the avalanche of wooden beams, sticks, and parts of the wall that came loose as well.

"Awesome! Good idea, Teal'c!" O'Neill told him.

At that moment the Jaffa appeared at the end of the alleyway and the Tok'ra and all the members of SG-1 immediately threw themselves down behind the cover created by the destroyed balcony. It was not much protection, but it was a lot better than nothing.

Lantash and Selmak had both put on their hand devices and now each fired off as strong a shockwave as they could. Of the group of eight Jaffa, only one was standing afterwards, and O'Neill got him with his zat'nik'tel.

"Impressive!" Sam grinned.

"We'd better check that they stay down - at least until we can get the _hell_ out of here!" O'Neill said, hesitantly walking towards the fallen Jaffa, with his zat'nik'tel at the ready.

Selmak and Lantash followed close behind, the crystal in their ribbon devices glowing. Teal'c followed just after, having armed himself with one of the long rafters.

The Jaffa that O'Neill had shot with his zat'nik'tel was slowly waking up.

"Teal'c - could you put him to sleep again? I don't want to zat him again. No reason to kill the guards if we don't have to," O'Neill said.

"Certainly, O'Neill."

Lantash had leaned down to check on the other Jaffa. "These two are dead." He stepped over to the next. "Stunned, but will recover." He checked on the rest. "I doubt any of them will wake up soon, but those who are alive now should all survive - with the help of their symbiotes."

O'Neill nodded, a rueful expression on his face. "Got you. Let's get out of here before any more shows up."

* * *

They had made it out of the city after several near misses, and then set out through the desert towards the place where they had hidden their cargo vessel.

It was near morning when the exhausted group reached their teltac. Fortunately, no one had discovered it. Making sure they were not watched, they entered their vessel.

The Furling device would not be fully charged for another several hours, so the decision was made to rest until then - something they all needed.

* * *

"It's fully charged," Sam told them, having unhooked the device from the ship's engines.

"Good. Do you know enough about it now to be able to reset the timeline to what it was originally?" O'Neill asked.

"What it was when _we_ found the device, you mean. There is no way to know if someone else has changed it before," Sam pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah. No need to quibble. Well, Carter?"

"Not completely, but I think we know enough to return it to something very close to right, and then tweak it from there."

"By all means, do that - and the sooner the better," O'Neill said.

"We should probably move the ship first. Get into space, maybe. There's people living around here in our own timeline too, and it's probably best that they don't see an alien spaceship," Daniel reminded them.

O'Neill nodded. "Right. There's enough UFO reports as it. Jacob - take her into space!"


	23. Chapter 23

"This should be a peaceful neighborhood - more or less," Jacob said, taking them out of hyperspace.

"Good. Change the settings on the cube and activate it - I am more than ready to say goodbye to _this_ timeline!" O'Neill said.

"I think we can all agree to that, sir," Sam said, activating the device.

The by now far too familiar flash was seen.

"Okay, Jacob, can you tell if things are more like normal? I mean, can you scan the space and planets nearby or whatever?" O'Neill asked. "Listen on all hailing frequencies, or - you know."

"Listen on all hailing frequencies? I'm not Uhura and this isn't the Enterprise!" Jacob exclaimed. "I can't do that! What I _can_ do is set the communication to scan through the entire subspace frequency band, but that doesn't necessarily tell us anything."

"Well, do that, then - and afterwards let us set a course towards Earth," O'Neill ordered.

* * *

"Did you find anything?" O'Neill asked when Jacob had finished his scans.

"I found little to indicate whether or not the timeline has been repaired. That may not mean anything, I know. Though, I did intercept a few subspace messages from Ba'al to Bastet, and they seemed more friendly than I would have expected. If they are allies, then this timeline is not as it should be," Jacob said.

"All right. We'll see when we get back to Earth," O'Neill decided. "We've agreed that if everything looks normally back there, then the rest is probably also okay, right?"

"Probably, at least as far as everything in the Milky Way goes," Sam said. "We've been interfering so much with things in the Galaxy that it's unlikely Earth would be unaffected if the rest is changed."

"I'll set a course for Earth," Jacob said.

* * *

"Well, at least the planet looked normal at first glance, when we arrived," O'Neill said, after they had landed in the forested, mountainous area west of Cheyenne Mountain. "Lights, cities, communication - all detectable from space."

Jacob nodded. "Yes, and the Stargate is located at Stargate Command, I can sense it."

"Better and better!" O'Neill smiled. "Now we just have to hope everything else is the same too!"

"It's unfortunate we don't have our BDUs - or any kind of regular Earth clothes," Sam said, looking down herself. "We're going to look odd wearing this."

"Well, it _is_ actually clothing from Earth," Daniel pointed out.

"We'd have stood out even more in the Goa'uld clothes," O'Neill said. "If everything is as it should be, we'll be able to get what we need at Stargate Command. Which is just under 20 klicks away, so I suggest we start walking."

* * *

"They've got normal looking cars. That's something," Daniel remarked.

They had reached 'Old Stage Road' which was located only a few miles west of Cheyenne Mountain, and they were hiding in the bushes on the side. It was early evening, and it had been a fine day in late May and it was still quite warm.

"Yeah, it can still be zombies when we get there," Jacob said, ruefully.

"Don't be so pessimistic!" O'Neill said. "We've survived until now."

"Do we just walk up to the entrance and say hi?" Daniel wondered. "Or do we assume the worst and call someone we know, or maybe visit them at home first?"

O'Neill weighed the options. "I was going to suggest we just go to Stargate Command, but on second thought, let's take a look at the city first - when we've stolen some more normal clothes. Come on - I know where there is a clothes store not too far away."

"You want to break in?" Daniel asked.

"Yes. Do you have a better suggestion? It'll be fairly late evening when we get there, and I've never noticed any sort of surveillance around the store, so I don't think it'll be that hard. The Air Force can pay them back if this turns out to be the right timeline."

* * *

"Okay, who do we visit?" Sam asked, when they had changed to less conspicuous clothing. "Janet?"

Daniel nodded. "That's a good idea. Jack?"

"Sure, I agree. Let's visit Doc Fraiser. We should maybe wait until tomorrow, though. It's nearly midnight."

Sam shook her head. "She doesn't usually go to bed early."

"Let's go, then," O'Neill said, counting the money they had gotten by emptying a small safe they had found in a back room of the clothes store. "Wait... why do these have pictures of Queen Elizabeth the Second on them?"

"They kept British pounds in their safe?" Jacob asked.

"Yeah, I think so. Weird. Maybe the owner is a collector or something." O'Neill shrugged. "I guess we can change them in a bank."

* * *

"Who are you? Why do you knock on the door so late?" the man demanded, staring angrily at them from the door opening.

"Uh, doesn't Doctor Janet Fraiser live here?" Daniel asked.

"Fraiser? No idea, never heard of her!" He slammed the door shut.

"Okay, something is _clearly_ different!" O'Neill said, looking at the closed door. "Let's try Harriman instead."

"We already know this isn't the right timeline. Why spend more time here?" Daniel asked.

"Daniel Jackson is correct. We should return to the teltac," Teal'c said.

O'Neill sighed. "You're right. Let's get something to eat first, then we go back. I know a place where the bartender collects coins. Maybe he'll agree to take the money we got off our hands, even if they're new."

* * *

"I kind of think there are other differences in this timeline. This bar wasn't a British type pub last i visited," O'Neill said, looking around the place.

Jacob nodded. "Yeah, and it's not like those themed bars either." He shrugged. "They've got good beer, so who cares."

"The bartender did take the money without question," Daniel pointed out. "That's good at least."

"And strange," Sam added. "You know what I'm thinking?"

"You're thinking the US never broke away from the British empire." O'Neill shook his head. "I think I agree."

"Well, anyone up for a game of dart while we're here?" Jacob asked. "Teal'c? Martouf?"

* * *

"I have been considering something," Martouf said, as they walked back to their cargo vessel. "You found this timeline-changing device in a Furling laboratory, correct?"

Sam nodded. "Yes, we did."

"Would it not seem likely that they had some manner of determining how far one timeline is from another, and how to change the settings to achieve the one you want?"

"Well, I guess they may have something, but we didn't find anything but this cube. Besides, even if they do have that it wouldn't help us. We do not have a reading for the original timeline," Sam reminded them.

"No, but it does exist - or part of it does at any rate. In your memories and experiences," Martouf pointed out.

"That makes a kind of sense. Would that work, Carter?" O'Neill asked.

"Maybe, but that's so far from anything we have the technology to make that it's completely irrelevant. Unless the Furlings already made such a device," Sam conceded. "Which I guess is possible, but we just have no way of knowing."

"Then I think we should find out. How old was that Furling lab?" O'Neill asked.

"Probably tens of thousands of years old. I see what you mean. Nothing we have done will have changed it in any way. It's also probable that the Goa'uld who owns the Jaffa that interrupted us, Olokun, would not have sent his Jaffa there if this timeline is different. I agree, we should see if we can find anything else in the lab," Sam agreed.


	24. Chapter 24

"Well, there's no sign of any Jaffa here, that's good at least," O'Neill said when they had set their teltac down in a clearing in a forest close to the place where they had found the entrance to the Furling laboratory.

"Agreed. I still think we should conceal the ship and keep guard," Jacob said.

"Sure. There's plenty of foliage here. It shouldn't be a problem," O'Neill said, looking around at the greenery.

They spent some time hiding the ship, before walking along a path to the cliffs where the entrance was.

* * *

"It was somewhere around here," Daniel said, looking at the rockface.

Sam slid her hand along the rough surface and found the small outcropping they were looking for. "Here!"

She pushed, hard, and part of the rock slid noiselessly aside. Inside, light came on along the corridor, just as it had the first time they were there.

"Nice. Good to see _that_ is the same," O'Neill said. "You guys go ahead and see if you can find anything else in there. Teal'c and I will keep guard. Just make sure you don't activate the cube or anything else that might screw with the timeline until we're in the same room, okay?"

"Of course, sir," Sam promised.

* * *

"This was the room we found the Furling device in originally," Daniel said.

Martouf looked around in the cave-like chamber. "It looks as if they just cut the room directly from the rock. As if it isn't quite finished. The corridor we came through, and the other rooms we saw, they all have a smooth, almost translucent surface on the walls, floor, and roof."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, we noticed that when we came here first. We think this was made later, maybe just for hiding the device in."

"Where was it?" Martouf asked.

"Behind a concealed door. We found it by accident, really," Daniel said. He walked to the opposite wall and placed his hand against it, just under a small bump in the rock.

A door opened in the wall, maybe 5 feet above ground.

"Like that," Sam said, smiling.

"Sam... there's another device in there!" Daniel exclaimed. "How can there be another device? We already have it!" He held the original one out before him.

Sam stared at that, and then at the one that stood in the small enclosure. "The timeline was changed at a time in the past before we picked up the device," she said. Then she frowned. "But you're right. We haven't come across another copy of any of us, presumably because we were moved along with the cube, through the different possibilities. The cube should not be _here_ too."

"Perhaps it is different because it _creates_ the changes in the timeline," Martouf suggested.

Sam shook her head slowly. "Your guess is as good as mine. I have no idea why there are now two copies of it."

"Let's not worry about that now," Jacob said. "We should try to find out if there is anything else down here."

"This is the only room that had anything in it?" Martouf asked. "Of the ones you searched, I mean."

"Yes," Sam confirmed. "However, from what we can tell, it is only a small part of the underground complex."

"It is strange there were so many empty rooms. Could they have hidden entrances as well, perhaps?" Martouf wondered.

"Doubtful. We searched them fairly thoroughly," Jacob said. "All right, why don't we spread out and see if we can find anything. Just remember; don't touch any weird alien tech! Fetch the rest of us instead."

* * *

"Whoa!" Daniel exclaimed, when the wall suddenly disappeared before him and a long corridor appeared.

He had been searching the rooms in one of the corridors leading from the part of the complex they had gone through the first time they were here. All the rooms had been empty, with no hidden doors or enclosures that he could find. Until this.

"What happened?" Sam asked, as she came running into the room. "Wow, a secret entrance to _another_ part of this underground complex? I wonder how big it is in total!"

"It would appear to be pretty huge. It's just strange that all of it is empty - at least the parts we have found," Daniel said.

"This was built a long time ago. Maybe they took most of the things they had here with them when they left?" Sam suggested. "I'll go get my Dad and Martouf. I think this secret part of the complex has the highest probability of having something useful left in it."

* * *

"There is stuff in every one of these rooms," Daniel said.

"Mainly everyday things. We've found kitchens, storage rooms, personal quarters, bathrooms..." Jacob said.

"As well as a few laboratories which mostly contain weird stuff we have _no_ idea what are," Sam added.

"It is unfortunate none of understands much of this variant of Furling," Martouf observed, studying what was obviously a computer. "If we did, maybe we could find an inventory of everything."

"Well, Selmak knows something, and Daniel knows something. Maybe together they can figure it out?" Sam suggested.

Jacob shrugged. "It's worth a try."

* * *

"Look at this!" Selmak exclaimed, pointing at the display. "I believe this may be what we are looking for!"

"What does it say?" Sam wondered.

"It _is_ actually a kind of inventory. The timeline-changing device is listed as well, with a short description... and a warning. It was created by a researcher named 'Re'app'l' and his colleagues 'Shou'l' and 'Visn'. They were interested in the fluidity of time and history," Selmak told them. "It is all very interesting - we should definitely make a copy of this!"

"I agree!" Daniel said, eagerly.

Selmak shook her head. "But we should focus on repairing the timeline first."

"Do they have a way to do so?" Martouf asked. "The Furling."

"Yes, the researcher made that at the same time as they created the device - which they were in fact forbidden from using by their leaders, but apparently they did test it anyway. There is a description on how to make a, a _backup_ I believe is your word, of the settings for the original timeline."

"Meaning we have no chance of fixing it because we didn't do that," Sam groaned.

"Unless they had one saved, somehow?" Martouf suggested.

Selmak shook her head. "Unfortunately not. However, they have something else which we may be able to use. It was developed for their research as well, and does in fact look at the experiences of a person and compares it to the events of the current timeline. Like you suggested, Martouf."

"That sounds like just what we need!" Sam exclaimed, looking hopeful. "What do we do?"

"Apparently the Furling had detection devices which scanned the events on a number of worlds that interested them - including the world of the Tau'ri, since it was of interest to their allies."

"The Ancients," Daniel said.

"Yes. However, the scans does not appear to be very thorough, except in what would now be considered ancient times on your world. With no maintenance the devices have either stopped working or become less reliable."

"Meaning what?" Sam asked.

"Meaning we probably need to scan all of us - and hope it gets enough data to make a reasonable estimate of the correct settings."

"Uh, one thing concerns me," Daniel said. "We've all gotten some recent memories of things in different timelines, things we _don't_ want included."

Selmak nodded. "Very true. We do not want to risk _zombies_ appearing. These Furling scientists thought of this problem. It is possible to set a time period whereafter nothing should be included."

"Good, because then you can use my memories as well," Martouf said. "As long as you exclude the last almost two years."

"Exactly. One more thing. When - and if - we do get the correct settings, we should go to the teltac and activate the device there," Selmak said.

Sam hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Right, because if we _do_ get it right, we risk Olokun's Jaffa still being here - even if more than a month has passed since they came here. It's not unlikely Olokun has decided to make a permanent base here."

"That is correct. Olokun is a very patient, persistent Goa'uld," Martouf said.

"Actually, that would be one way to easily see that it was the right timeline. If Olokun's Jaffa are on this planet," Selmak said.

"So what? We get Jack and Teal'c, scan all of us, and then get the settings. Which we enter into the cube and then go to the teltac," Daniel summed it up.

"Yes, and one more thing," Selmak said.

"What?" Sam wondered.

"We make a copy of everything in this database before we leave," Selmak said. "There is too much important information here to leave it behind."

Daniel smiled. "Agreed."

* * *

"All right, so you've got the correct settings now? You're going to be able to fix the timeline?" O'Neill asked.

"Hopefully," Sam said.

"Selmak says she believes so, but that we cannot know for sure until we have tried," Jacob said.

"But we _can_ be certain that the timeline will be _close_ to what it should be," Martouf added. "That is good."

O'Neill nodded. "Yes, but if the timeline is the same except there is no Simpson's then I'm _not_ going to be happy!" he threatened, holding up his index finger.

"Simpson's?" Martouf asked, a confused look on his face.

"A television show which O'Neill favours. It features the daily life of a population of yellow beings, who generally behave in a less than optimal manner," Teal'c said.

"Great description!" Daniel laughed.

"I thought you enjoyed it last time we watched it!" O'Neill said, looking offended.

Sam laughed, then turned to Jacob. "Dad - did you get a copy of their databases?"

"Yes, the crystals are in the box over there." Jacob pointed.

"It's too bad we can't bring all of this with us," Sam said, looking wistfully at the alien technology.

"If we're lucky, Olokun's Jaffa never finds it and we can go back here when they leave - if they haven't already," O'Neill said. "Come on - let's get back to the teltac so we can get the timeline changed."

* * *

"We're in orbit. If Olokun's Jaffa are there, they won't detect us unless they brought scanners. Which they should have no reason to," Jacob said.

"Okay, we're activating the device," Sam said. "Ready?"

"Yes, by all means, fire it up!" O'Neill said. "And let's hope it's the last time we have to do that!"

Sam pushed the crystal and a flash enveloped them.

"Well? Are there any Jaffa down on the planet?" O'Neill asked, tension clear in his voice.

"Just a moment..." Jacob scanned the area around the Stargate. "Yes, there are. Several, in fact. They have set up camp not far from the Stargate."

"Are they Olokun's?" Daniel asked.

"That I can't tell from up here. I can take the ship in close and scan them, but they'll almost certainly see us, so we have to leave the planet immediately afterwards."

"No problem. Do that," O'Neill said.

They all waited with bated breath as Jacob flew the cargo vessel down through the atmosphere, close to the Jaffa.

"It's Olokun's Jaffa!" Jacob exclaimed. "And they've detected us!" He turned the ship around just as a staff shot hit them, making the ship shake. They flew on and moments later they were out of range.

"Does that mean the timeline is back to normal?" O'Neill asked, hopeful.

"Yes, sir. It does," Sam told him, smiling.

"Except for one change - Lantash and I," Martouf said.

O'Neill grinned. "I believe that is a change we can live with."

Sam sent him a dirty look, then turned to Martouf. "Don't listen to him. We're happy you're alive."

"And very happy the timeline is fixed." O'Neill smiled. "Set a course for Earth. We are going home!"

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS / HAPPY HOLIDAYS !


End file.
